Life in the Sea

w. Z 7

T
People and the Sea

Pam Walker and

Elaine Wood
 People and the Sea

Copyright © 2005 by Pam Walker and Elaine Wood

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Walker, Pam, 1958–
People and the Sea/ Pam Walker and Elaine Wood.
p. cm. — (Life in the sea)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8160-5706-0 (hardcover)
1. Marine pollution—Juvenile literature.
2. Oceanography—Juvenile literature. I. Wood, Elaine, 1950–II. Title.
GC1090.W35 2005
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 Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .viii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix

Z 1. Marine Nutrient Enrichment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Laws to Protect the Marine Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Nutrient Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Enriched Runoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Nutrient Enrichment in Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Dead Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Airborne Nitrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Risk of Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Beach Closings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Sewage in the Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Silt and Reduced Freshwater Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Z 2. Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Oil in the Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Oil Spills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Tarballs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Oil Releases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Trash in the Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Toxic Pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Z 3. Fishing and the Mariculture Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Fish as Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Commercial Fishing Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Consequences of Overfishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Mariculture Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Genetically Engineered Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Problems in Mariculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Z 4. Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes . . . . . . . . . . .58

Global Warming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Adverse Consequences of El Niño . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62
Devastation to Coral Reefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Limits to the Marine Carbon Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
The Ozone Hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Consequences to the Sulfur Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Food Chains and Photosynthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Finding Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Z 5. Endangered Marine Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Loss of Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Humans Cause Endangerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Endangered Species Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Endangered Marine Plants and Invertebrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Endangered Fish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Endangered Reptiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
Endangered Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
Endangered Mammals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
Alien Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Z 6. The Ocean’s Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
A Source of Salt and Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Harvesting Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Zones in the Ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Marine Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Offshore Oil and Natural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Alternative Energy Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Tides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Z 7. The Future of Human and Ocean Interactions . . . . . . . . . .116

The Latest News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
An Eye on Today and Tomorrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Further Reading and Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
 Preface
ife first appeared on Earth in the oceans, about 3.5 bil-
L lion years ago. Today these immense bodies of water still
hold the greatest diversity of living things on the planet. The
sheer size and wealth of the oceans are startling. They cover two-
thirds of the Earth’s surface and make up the largest habitat in
this solar system. This immense underwater world is a fascinat-
ing realm that captures the imaginations of people everywhere.
Even though the sea is a powerful and immense system,
people love it. Nationwide, more than half of the population
lives near one of the coasts, and the popularity of the seashore
as a home or place of recreation continues to grow. Increasing
interest in the sea environment and the singular organisms it
conceals is swelling the ranks of marine aquarium hobbyists,
scuba divers, and deep-sea fishermen. In schools and universi-
ties across the United States, marine science is working its way
into the science curriculum as one of the foundation sciences.
The purpose of this book is to foster the natural fascination
that people feel for the ocean and its living things. As a part of
the set entitled Life in the Sea, this book aims to give readers
a glimpse of some of the wonders of life that are hidden
beneath the waves and to raise awareness of the relationships
that people around the world have with the ocean.
This book also presents an opportunity to consider the
ways that humans affect the oceans. At no time in the past
have world citizens been so poised to impact the future of the
planet. Once considered an endless and resilient resource, the
ocean is now being recognized as a fragile system in danger of
overuse and neglect. As knowledge and understanding about
the ocean’s importance grow, citizens all over the world can
participate in positively changing the ways that life on land
interacts with life in the sea.

vii
 Acknowledgments
his opportunity to study and research ocean life has
T reminded both of us of our past love affairs with the
sea. Like many families, ours took annual summer jaunts to
the beach, where we took our earliest gulps of salt water and
fingered our first sand dollars. As sea-loving children, both of
us grew into young women who aspired to be marine biolo-
gists, dreaming of exciting careers spent nursing wounded
seals, surveying the dark abyss, or discovering previously
unknown species. After years of teaching school, these
dreams gave way to the reality that we did not get to spend as
much time in the oceans as we had hoped. But time and dis-
tance never diminished our love and respect for it.
We are thrilled to have the chance to use our own experi-
ences and appreciation of the sea as platforms from which to
develop these books on ocean life. Our thanks go to Frank K.
Darmstadt, executive editor at Facts On File, for this enjoy-
able opportunity. He has guided us through the process with
patience, which we greatly appreciate. Frank’s skills are
responsible for the book’s tone and focus. Our appreciation
also goes to Katy Barnhart for her copyediting expertise.
Special notes of appreciation go to several individuals
whose expertise made this book possible. Audrey McGhee
proofread and corrected pages at all times of the day or night.
Diane Kit Moser, Ray Spangenburg, and Bobbi McCutcheon,
successful and seasoned authors, mentored us on techniques
for finding appropriate photographs. We appreciate the help
of these generous and talented people.

viii
 Introduction
he oceans have always been the Earth’s biggest, deepest,
T and most mysterious treasure chest. Since the earliest
humans have existed, people have depended on the seas.
People and the Sea, one book in the Life in the Sea set, exam-
ines the past and present relationships between humans and
the ocean. The text focuses on the negative impacts of
humans on the physical ocean and its inhabitants. Chapter 1
looks at some of the problems that result from the influx of
nitrogen and other nutrients into the oceans. Nitrogen com-
pounds are normally found on the Earth, but excessive levels
of this nutrient make their way into the ocean. One primary
source of oceanic nitrogen is fertilizer applied to agricultural
fields. Rains wash the chemical into rivers and creeks that
eventually lead to the ocean. Nitrogen also enters the ocean
through an atmospheric route provided by the combustion of
fossil fuels. In addition, the breakdown products of sewage
systems all over the world drain into the ocean. The conse-
quences of nutrient pollution are complex and can lead to dis-
asters such as the dead zone that occurs in the Gulf of Mexico
each summer.
The origins and consequences of oil, heavy metals, pesti-
cides, and radioactive materials as pollutants are examined in
chapter 2. Oil finds its way into the ocean from spills, such as
wrecks of supertankers or explosions of undersea oil wells,
from runoff, and from normal shipping activities. The effects
of oil vary, depending on type, location, and amount, but all
marine organisms are negatively impacted by oil, and most
are killed with heavy oiling. Birds and mammals suffer from
hypothermia because oil damages their water-proofing sys-
tems. All animals that ingest oil are harmed by it. Heavy met-
als, often the by-products of industry, never degrade and

ix
x
T
People and the Sea

become a permanent part of the sediments. Pesticides cause

varying degrees of damage to living things, depending on
their chemical composition and concentration. DDT, a pesti-
cide produced in the 1950s, is still present in the marine envi-
ronment because it degrades very slowly. Radioactive materi-
als that enter the ocean most often originate from nuclear
power and nuclear weapon plants.
The oceans have always been sources of food, and fisheries
are the topic of chapter 3, Fishing and the Mariculture
Industry. Because seafood is a good source of protein and has
many health benefits, it has grown in popularity over the last
century. To meet the demands of fish-hungry consumers,
commercial fishermen constantly refine the technology of
their trade. As a result, overfishing has depleted the stocks of
many species to the point of commercial extinction. In other
cases, populations of fish are reduced to levels that require
governmental protection. Salmon, anchovies, red drums, and
large game fish are just a few of the species whose numbers
are critically low. Fish that are top predators, like sharks and
swordfish, are especially sensitive to intense fishing because
they have slow reproductive rates.
Chapter 4, Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes,
delves into the ocean’s response to pollutants in the atmos-
phere. The ocean and atmosphere connect with one another
at the sea surface, where they exchange gases and heat.
Changes in the ocean affect global climate; conversely,
changes in climate impact ocean ecosystems. The impetus
behind most present-day ocean and atmosphere changes is
human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels. Global
warming, ozone depletion, and increased ocean water tem-
peratures are some of the most serious threats to the natural
weather systems. El Niño, a normal disruption in the season-
al events in the Pacific Ocean, has worsened in the last centu-
ry due to climatic changes. The effects of intense El Niño
events impact ocean ecosystems.
Chapter 5, Endangered Marine Life, focuses on the loss of
species and biodiversity in the ocean. The health of an ecosys-
tem is reflected in its biodiversity. Extinctions, which lead to
 Introduction xi

loss of biodiversity, occur for many reasons, including

exploitation by humans. In the past, fishing and hunting have
seriously depleted populations of birds, fish, reptiles, and
mammals in the marine environment. These populations are
also stressed by pollution, global climate change, and loss of
habitat. The Endangered Species Act is the most powerful
piece of legislation in the United States for protecting organ-
isms from danger of extinction. When small populations of
endangered animals can be found, they are given protection
and an opportunity to rebuild their numbers.
The sea is a wealth of living and nonliving resources. Some
of the nonliving marine bounty includes minerals, petroleum,
building materials, water, energy, and chemicals, the topics of
chapter 6. Freshwater can be removed from seawater by dis-
tillation and reverse osmosis, two processes that are relatively
expensive, but necessary in regions where freshwater supplies
are sparse. Marine sediments are as rich in minerals as those
on land and offer attractive alternatives to miners whose ter-
restrial supplies are running low. With the ongoing world-
wide shortage of fossil fuels, the energy of ocean wind, waves,
tides, and heat is being harnessed in a few coastal countries.
Many of the living things in the ocean, especially those in
unique environments like coral reefs and deep sea hydrother-
mal vents, are proving to be sources of chemicals that can be
used to treat a variety of diseases, including cancer.
Chapter 7 looks toward the discoveries that marine scien-
tists feel are just around the corner. Because the ocean is such
a different environment than land, it holds chemicals, miner-
als, and organisms that cannot be found in terrestrial environ-
ments. Among these, researchers hope to discover treatments
for diseases like HIV and malaria. Some of the most recent
ocean discoveries have led to better understanding of fiber
optics and multiple lens systems, concepts that scientists may
be able to translate to technological uses.
Only by caring about, and for, the oceans can the opportu-
nities for exciting future discoveries exist. In the past, a lot of
mistakes have been made in managing the ocean’s resources.
Much of the work of today’s marine scientists is aimed at
xii
T
People and the Sea

learning from those past errors. Everyone can participate in

remediating damage already done, but more important, each
person has the opportunity to be involved in protecting the
future of the oceans. In order for the relationships of people
and the seas to be exciting and fulfilling, today’s decisions and
actions must be wise and well thought out.
 1

rMarine Nutrient Enrichment

f all the Earth’s natural resources, water may be the
O most essential for life. The Earth’s finite supply of
water constantly cycles through the environment. Detailed in
Figure 1.1, the forces that fuel these cycles are as ancient as
the Earth itself. As water travels, humans interact with it on
several levels. The ways in which people manage water have
changed as populations have increased, often resulting in
activities that interfere with the water cycle and upset the nat-
ural balance of the system.
When humans were a young species with small popula-
tions, their activities no more altered or damaged the water
cycle than those of other kinds of animals. For the early
hunters and gatherers, waste disposal was not an issue
because their nomadic lifestyles enabled them to leave wastes
behind when they moved to new hunting grounds. As popu-
lations grew and cities developed, people began forming
groups that stayed in one place, and the issues of clean water
and waste disposal required more attention.
As they developed, different civilizations employed a vari-
ety of sewage management techniques, most of which were
relatively simple. Some of the earliest sewers were simply gut-
ters dug in streets where residents emptied buckets of urine
and feces. From the gutters, the sewage flowed into the clos-
est waterway, whether it be a creek, river, estuary, or ocean.
This practice was acceptable at the time because conventional
wisdom held that running water had a natural way of purify-
ing itself. When the volume of sewage is small, this is true.
By the early 20th century, the quantity of sewage being
channeled into bodies of water was so large that it over-
whelmed the ability of natural systems to break down and dis-
perse waste. As a result, sewage began to accumulate in local

1
2 People and the
T Sea
Fig. 1.1 Water moves
from one part of the
Earth to another in a
cycle. After evaporating
from the sea and land,
water condenses in the
air to form clouds that
produce rain. Much of the
rain that falls on the
continents returns to the
ocean as surface or
subsurface runoff.
waterways, killing the natural inhabitants, causing disease,
and ruining water supplies. Added to the traditional forms of
community wastes were the by-products created by the chem-
ical processes of early industries. By mid-century, water pollu-
tion in the United States, as well as in most other countries,
was a national problem.
Laws to Protect the Marine Environment
Since that time, progress has been made. The first giant step
in cleaning America’s waterways came in the form of the
Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or Clean Water Act
(CWA). Originally enacted in 1948, the act was extensively
revised by amendments in 1972. In the early years of CWA
implementation, efforts were directed at point source pollu-
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 3

tion, wastes discharged from pipes and other discrete points.

The act gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
authority to establish and enforce standards for treatment of
wastewater, and it funded the construction of sewage treat-
ment plants. Amendments made in 1987 addressed the origins
of nonpoint source pollution, that which arises from regions,
such as the runoff from farms, city streets, and forests.
The CWA requires states along the coast to monitor the
quality of their coastal waters to avoid problems of marine
water pollution. The act also enables the EPA to commission
research that will help determine the effects of discharged
pollutants on marine life and coastal ecosystems, and to use
this research to set standards for future discharges. In addi-
tion, the CWA regulates factors such as the amount of storm
water that runs into the ocean and the volume of oil at sea.
Perhaps one of the most important provisions of the CWA
gives the EPA the authority to establish watershed management
plans for estuaries and coastal waters. A watershed is the land
area drained by a body of water, usually a river. Watersheds vary
in size and complexity from creeks that drain only a few acres of
land to the Mississippi River system, a network of waterways
that channels water from 40 states to the Gulf of Mexico.
The CWA also regulates marine dredging and the dumping
of dredged materials. Dredging, mechanically digging up the
seafloor, may be done for several reasons. Often, sediment
that builds up in harbors and canals makes these waterways
shallow and reduces their accessibility to boats. By dredging,
boat traffic can be restored. Dredging is also done for new
construction, such as building marinas and piers, and to mine
rocks and minerals. In all cases, dredging has negative effects
on the marine organisms living on the seafloor and can result
in the loss of corals, sea urchins, sea stars, sea grass, sponges,
and hundreds of other life forms. Dredging also stirs up sedi-
ment in the water, clogging the gills of some organisms and
completely burying others.
Although efforts to stop ocean effluence have dramatically
impacted the way people interact with marine environments,
the oceans are still recipients of billions of gallons of pollu-
tion each day. The worst hit areas are along the coasts because
4
T
People and the Sea

these are the regions where land-based pollutants drain into

the ocean and where people build homes, harbors, and busi-
nesses. As human populations continue to grow and move to
the ocean’s edge, marine pollution problems worsen.

Nutrient Sources
In many coastal waters, especially those of developed nations,
nutrient enrichment is considered to be the number one
marine pollution problem. Nutrients are substances that
increase the rate of growth of plants and algae. Nutrient
enrichment, also known as eutrophication, refers specifically
to the addition of nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phospho-
rus compounds, to waterways. Sources of nutrients in water-
ways include inadequately treated human and livestock
sewage, applications of fertilizers to agricultural fields, lawns,
and golf courses, as well as excess nitrogen in the air from
human activities that cause air pollution.
Sewage, liquid and solid wastes that include human urine
and feces, is a major source of nutrients in the ocean.
Nutrients from sewage can be carried into natural waterways
by runoff, precipitation that does not sink into the ground.
Runoff enters some sewage systems from combined sewage
overflows (CSOs), drains and pipes that funnel the water that
flows over streets into the sewage collection system. In CSOs,
even a moderate rainstorm can overwhelm the capacity of the
sewage treatment facility. When this happens, storm water
causes sewage to wash directly into streams and rivers, which
transport the material to the ocean.
The human population, made up of almost 6.5 billion indi-
viduals, produces billions of gallons of sewage on a daily basis,
far too much material for nature to break down and absorb.
For this reason, sewage treatment is an absolute necessity.
Sewage treatment removes impurities from sewage so that the
water content in it can be returned to the water cycle. About
99 percent of the volume of sewage is made up of freshwater.
When it is “treated,” sewage goes through several processes
to reduce its potentially negative impacts on the environ-
ment. Treatment kills the germs and reduces the biological
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 5

oxygen demand (BOD) of the sewage. BOD, one measure of

water quality, tells how much oxygen is needed (in parts per
million [ppm]) by bacteria and other decomposers to break
down the organic matter in the sample over a five-day period.
Drinking water should have a BOD of less than 1 ppm, while
the BOD of sewage is several hundred ppm.
The methods of sewage treatment vary by municipality,
although all facilities share some common characteristics.
After trash and grit are removed with screens, sewage flows
into large tanks, like those in the upper color insert on page
C-1, where the majority of solid material is permitted to settle
to the bottom. This solid waste material, or sludge, is
removed from the tanks and the watery portion is either dis-
charged into the ocean and other waterways, or retained for
secondary treatment. During secondary treatment, the liquid
portion of the sewage is piped into tanks that support the
growth of oxygen-using, or “good,” microorganisms. These
good microbes feed on the “bad” ones, the viruses and
unwanted bacteria. In many coastal districts, water receives
secondary treatment before it is released into the sea.
After both primary and secondary treatment, the water is
free of solids and pathogens, but still contains dissolved phos-
phorus and nitrogen. These two nutrients can be removed in
another step, tertiary treatment. Some tertiary treatment
includes a final disinfection with ultraviolet light or microfil-
tration. Each level of treatment is more expensive and time
consuming than the previous level.
The volume of sewage produced in the United States is
staggering, further complicating its effective treatment. For
example, in a 24 hour period, the population of San Diego,
California, which includes more than 1 million people, pro-
duces 2,000 tons (1,800 metric tons) of feces and 250,000
gallons (946,350 l) of urine. This sewage, along with other
liquid wastes, undergoes primary treatment to kill pathogens
and remove solids. The effluent, or liquid portion, is mixed
with freshwater, then discharged into the ocean by a pipe that
runs about 2.48 miles (4 km) offshore.
The sludge produced by sewage treatment often finds its
way into the marine environment. Sludge is made up of
6 People and the
T Sea
Fig. 1.2 This map of
the New York Bight
shows the wide
continental shelf off the
northeastern coast of the
United States. At the edge
of the shelf, depth
decreases rapidly to the
deep seafloor. (Courtesy
of Steve Nicklas, NOS,
NGS, NOAA Ship
Collection)
organic compounds, nutrients, bacteria, viruses, metal com-
pounds, synthetic organic compounds, chemicals, and hun-
dreds of other materials. Before 1998, most municipal sludge
met one of three fates: It was burned in an incinerator, buried
in a landfill, or dumped in the deep ocean. Since that time,
ocean dumping has been severely restricted. Currently, some
sludge is being used to augment soil in agriculture, although
most of the solid materials is still buried in landfills or
incinerated.
Experiences from the past provide opportunities to learn
about better ways to handle sewage and waste treatment in
the present and future. For example, from the position of
hindsight, the negative consequences of dumping wastes into
the waters of the New York Bight, an indention in the coast-
line off the mouth of the Hudson River and just south of Long
Island (shown in Figure 1.2), are easy to see. In 1890, New
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 7

York City began disposing of its garbage by loading it on a

boat and dumping it in the New York Bight. By 1934, so much
trash had accumulated in this dump that refuse routinely
washed back onto the beaches, fouling the recreational areas
and causing a public outcry. To solve the problem of trash
floating onto the beaches, legislation was passed that prohib-
ited dumping of materials that float. All other types of wastes
could be disposed of there. In the span between 1890 and
1971, more than 49.44 million cubic feet (1.4 million m3) of
waste was dumped into the bight, enough trash and sewage to
cover Manhattan Island with a layer that is six stories deep.
By 1987, the continued appearance of trash on the beaches
finally prompted officials to close the offshore waste disposal
site. New York and some New Jersey cities were issued per-
mits to dump sewage sludge 106 miles (171 km) from shore,
a region further out to sea and at the edge of the continental
shelf. After sticky balls of sewage began to wash up on east
coast beaches, all dumping was outlawed.
Worldwide, as the population continues to grow, so does
the amount of sewage and sludge it produces. At this time,
most developed countries have some type of environmentally
friendly plan for sewage and sludge disposal. Many of the
coastal developing nations lack sewage treatment facilities, so
they still release raw sewage directly into the ocean.
The effects of sewage on the marine environment vary,
depending on the amount of discharge and the size and con-
dition of the water receiving the sewage. Because sewage and
runoff contain nutrients, most notably nitrogen, they affect
the rate of plant growth. Low levels of nutrient enriched
material entering the marine systems have little or no nega-
tive impacts. Instead, modest increases in nutrient levels can
act like fertilizers, boosting the growth of plants. Serious
problems arise when high levels of either sewage or runoff
add more nutrients than the marine environment can process.
Nitrogen-containing urea and feces in sewage can wreck
havoc on the marine environment. Because nitrogen is an
essential element for plant growth, low quantities can limit
marine productivity. The presence of moderate amounts of
nitrogen makes it possible for plants and one-celled green
8
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People and the Sea

plankton like diatoms and dinoflagellates to grow rapidly but

within normal limits. Large amounts of the nutrient can cause
algal blooms, population explosions of tiny plants and one-
celled green organisms.
In an algal bloom the rate of plant growth exceeds the abili-
ty of grazers like fish to keep the plants under control. Fast-
growing cells and plants can spread across the water, crowding
out other living things and shading bottom-growing grasses.
The two most serious conditions resulting from algal blooms
are low oxygen in the water and the production of toxins.
Since plants produce oxygen during photosynthesis, it may
seem ironic that large populations of plants can use up all the
oxygen in a marine environment. Photosynthesis requires
light, so it only occurs during the day. During the day and
night, plants and algae carry out another life-supporting
process, respiration, which uses oxygen to break down food
and produce energy for life. In the daytime, when both respi-
ration and photosynthesis occur, oxygen production balances
oxygen consumption. At night, large populations of plants
and algae can quickly deplete all the available oxygen.
Lack of oxygen causes the plants and algae to die and sink
to the seafloor, where they become food for the resident
decomposers, primarily oxygen-dependent bacteria. With so
much food suddenly available, bacterial populations soar and
quickly consume all the available oxygen in the lower part of
the water column and on the seafloor. The lack of oxygen,
anoxia, causes the death of slow-moving invertebrates like
snails and clams. Mobile animals, such as fish and octopus,
move away from the suffocating zone.
Only a few of the more than 1,000 species of one-celled
dinoflagellates, like the one in Figure 1.3, are capable of pro-
ducing toxins. One type of dinoflagellate releases a deadly
toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). During
harmful algal blooms (HABs), also known as red tides, toxin-
generating dinoflagellates reproduce rapidly. Shellfish that
feed on the dinoflagellates are capable of excreting the toxin,
so are not injured by it. However, fish, birds, marine mam-
mals, and humans that consume the shellfish are poisoned.
The toxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning interferes
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 9

Fig. 1.3 Dinoflagellates

are unicellular green
organisms whose
populations can undergo
explosive growth in
eutrophic waters.
(Courtesy of Carl Chun,
NOAA Ship Collection)

with the transmission of nerve signals to muscles, paralyzing

them. In extreme cases, death can result. As populations of
humans grow along the coasts and eutrophication increases,
HABs are becoming more widespread.

Enriched Runoff
Runoff in rural areas picks up the same kinds of nutrients as
those found in cities, although the sources of the nutrients are
slightly different. In cities, runoff travels over streets polluted
with oil products and heavy metals, while rural runoff flows
over fields that have been treated with fertilizers and pesti-
cides. Fertilizer contains nitrogen as well as phosphorus,
another essential plant nutrient that is often in short supply.
10
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People and the Sea

The addition of fertilizer to a body of water enriches the

growth of plants there, just as it does on land. Like sewage,
nutrient-rich runoff can cause eutrophication of marine
environments.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administrations (NOAA), symptoms of eutrophication can be
found in 138 bays and estuaries around the United States.
One-third of those bays are described as suffering from “very
eutrophic” conditions. Although eutrophic bays are found on
all U.S. coasts, they are concentrated in the mid- and northern
Atlantic Ocean and in the Gulf of Mexico. In these bays,
about 67 percent of the surface area shows moderate to high
degrees of depleted oxygen. NOAA predicts that by 2020, all
the currently damaged marine systems will be more severely
damaged, and that up to 86 percent of surface area will be low
in oxygen due to eutrophication.
Nutrient enrichment also causes damage to unique marine
ecosystems like coral reefs and sea grass beds. The input of
nutrients into sea grass beds can stimulate the production of
heavy grass blades but not an equal amount of growth in grass
roots. Consequently, sea grasses become top heavy and lose
their hold on the soil. As sea grass populations begin to dwin-
dle, fast growing macroalgae out-compete remaining sea grass
plants and take over their niche. Loss of sea grasses, whose
roots and rhizomes help hold together soil, causes erosion in
the area. Undersea erosion suspends tiny soil particles, mak-
ing the water cloudy and reducing the number and kinds of
organisms that can live there.
In the same way, eutrophication can favor the growth of
some undesirable types of macroalgae, which then crowd out
more desirable, habitat-enriching species. This scenario
occurred in the Baltic Sea, an enclosed body of ocean water
located between northeastern Europe and Scandinavia. At one
time, the Baltic was populated with lush beds of brown sea-
weeds and the organisms that graze on them. Eutrophication
promoted the growth of heavy stands of fast-growing, green
seaweed that had limited use as an animal food or habitat. As a
result, populations of brown seaweeds were reduced and many
resident animals were unable to survive.
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 11

Tropical, reef-building corals are extensively damaged by

eutrophication. Corals develop symbiotic relationships with
green algae that live in their tissues. Without the algae, corals
are unable to build reefs in the clear, nutrient-poor waters of
the tropics. When nutrient levels rise in reef waters, algal
blooms cover the corals, preventing the symbiotic algae from
getting enough sun. As the symbionts become stressed from
lack of sunlight, they often abandon the corals, a phenome-
non called “bleaching” since the algae are responsible for
color in the corals. Bleached corals can recover, but many die.
Loss of coral can lead to a change in the entire coral reef habitat,

Nutrient Enrichment in Coral Reefs

Like most other ocean systems, coral
reefs are suffering from increased levels
of nutrients in their environments. For
corals, these higher levels of nutrients are
contributing to frequent, and severe,
cases of disease. Over the past 20 years,
Caribbean coral reefs have endured epi-
demics that often wipe out up to 60 to
70 percent of the coral populations. Such
huge losses change the character of indi-
vidual reefs forever.
The researchers who made this discov-
ery did so by testing their suspicions
about the correlations between nutrients
and disease on reefs near Mexico’s
Yucatan Peninsula. In experiments con-
ducted during 2003, Dr. John Bruno and
associates from the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, placed various con-
centrations of time-release fertilizer into
bags that they made from pantyhose,
then hung the bags a few inches from the
corals. The researchers found that even a
moderate rise in nutrients increased the
occurrence of a fungal disease in the coral
known as aspergillosis. Doubling levels of
nutrients doubled the severity of the
infection and tissue loss.
Damaged reefs rarely, if ever, recover
from severe outbreaks of diseases. After
the coral animals die, the reefs often
become overgrown with algae and
macroalgae. Dr. Bruno points out that
eutrophication is not the only stressor on
coral reefs. Most are also exposed to ris-
ing global temperatures, overfishing,
damage from severe storms, and silt and
sediment in their environment. He
emphasizes that of all the stressors
adversely affecting coral, high levels of
nutrients is one that humans might be
able to remedy.
12
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People and the Sea

causing many of the fish and invertebrates to look elsewhere

for food.

Dead Zones
The consequences of nutrient-enriched waters are far-reaching
and complex. One of the worst is the formation of dead zones,
large expanses of hypoxic, low-oxygen, or anoxic, oxygen-
less, water. The world’s second-largest anoxic region is in the
Gulf of Mexico, an expanse that averages more than 5,800
square miles (15,000 km2). In the worst year, the Gulf dead
zone has grown as large as 7,728 square miles (20,015 km2), as
big as the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
The Mississippi River drains more land area than any other
river, carrying water from 41 percent of the continental
United States. Located within the Mississippi’s drainage basin
are 47 percent of the rural population and 52 percent of the
nation’s farms. As farming activities have increased during the
last century, the amount of nitrogen traveling down the
Mississippi has multiplied by two to seven times.
The dead zone makes its appearance in the spring of each
year when the Mississippi River is swollen from frequent
spring rains and melted snow and ice. Rainwater that flows
over agricultural fields of the productive Midwest picks up
dissolved nutrients. In addition, the river and its tributaries
carry their normal loads of treated sewage from 40 states.
Eventually, the nutrient-laden river water arrives at the ocean,
where the less dense freshwater floats on the top of the more
dense salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. With the arrival of
summer and warm temperatures, the nutrients in the upper
layer of water spur the growth of algae, causing blooms.
Dense populations of algae use up all the oxygen, sink, then
undergo bacterial decomposition, another oxygen-consuming
process. By July, all the oxygen in the water is gone, along
with living things that depend on oxygen.
Over the past 30 years, the size of the dead zone has grown
in direct response to two human practices: the increased use
of fertilizer on corn and wheat fields and the rise in number of
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 13

livestock farms in the Mississippi River drainage basin.

Livestock farms produce manure, which is rich in nitrogen.
The amount of rainfall also influences the size of the zone
because rain carries the nutrients down the river. During a
drought in the Midwest in the spring and summer of 1988,
only small amounts of rain water were available to wash over
the fields and livestock farms. As a result, the anoxic zone was
extremely small. In 1993 heavy flooding carried larger than
usual loads of nutrients to the Gulf, and the dead zone grew
substantially bigger.
So far, the dead zone appears in the spring and recovers in
the fall each year. If the Gulf of Mexico follows the patterns
established by other marine dead zones, it could become per-
manent. The general pattern of events is the appearance of a
dead zone only once every two or three years at first. After a
time, the incident occurs annually, then after several years it
evolves into a year-round phenomenon.
The formation of the low-oxygen zone may also explain the
increased incidence of HABs in the Gulf of Mexico. The pres-
ence of nutrients in the water creates good growing condi-
tions for many kinds of organisms, including those species of
algae that cause HABs. As the algae spread quickly, their pres-
ence heaps additional stress on the animal life.
The largest dead zone in the world exists in the Baltic Sea,
the recipient of sewage from 80 million people in the surround-
ing coastal cities. Similar zones are located in the New York
Bight, the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of the United
States, several Scandinavian fjords, the northern Adriatic Sea
located off the Mediterranean, the North Sea between the
United Kingdom and Scandinavia, and the Black Sea, a body of
water that is bordered by the Ukraine on the north and Turkey
on the south. In the 1980s, the dead zone in the Black Sea
reached its greatest size, covering 7,720 square miles (20,000
km2). Most of the eutrophication in this region was due to
heavy applications of phosphorus-containing fertilizer. When
the economy of the region collapsed, farmers were forced to use
fertilizer more sparingly, and the anoxic zone began to shrink.
In 1996, it was absent for the first time in 23 years.
14
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People and the Sea

The far-reaching outcomes of dead zones are still under

scrutiny. Researchers know that sessile and slow-moving
organisms die as soon as the region becomes anoxic. Mobile
animals move away, leaving the region empty of resident life
forms. Animals that are capable of flourishing in oxygen-poor
environments, like the worm Capitella capitata, take advan-
tage of the sudden availability of food and space and rapidly
expand their populations. In fact, Capitella capitata is so suc-
cessful in low-oxygen situations that it is used as an indicator
species, one whose presence suggests that a certain pollutant
or set of conditions is present.
Other long-term effects of the dead zone are complex and
difficult to assess. As resident life forms disappear, the food
webs change and some native species are permanently lost to
the system. When populations of fish vanish, fishermen are
forced to travel farther each time they leave the dock. The
losses to both commercial and recreational fisheries cause
serious damage to the local economy.

Airborne Nitrogen
Although water is the primary transporter of excessive levels
of nitrogen to the ocean, the element can also be introduced
into ocean waters from air pollution. A high level of atmos-
pheric nitrogen, the product of human activities, was the pri-
mary culprit in the formation of dead zones of the North Sea
and Baltic Sea. Atmospheric nitrogen pollution can enter the
water in two forms: either as dry or wet deposition. Wet depo-
sition includes rain, snow, and fog, while dry deposition refers
to nitrogen gas or nitrogen compounds on dust particles.
The algal blooms in the Baltic Sea and North Sea are linked
to changes in traditional land uses in nearby terrestrial envi-
ronments. As swine and poultry industries in the region
increase, so does the production of animal wastes. Nitrogen,
in the form of ammonia, evaporates from animal wastes and
enters the atmosphere. From there, ammonia gas dissolves in
the surface layer of sea water or is carried to the sea in precip-
itation. The same pattern of land use and nitrogen deposition
is seen in the mid-Atlantic coastal plain and the neighboring
waters off the coast of North Carolina.
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 15

Other primary sources of atmospheric nitrogen are human

activities that involve the combustion of fossil fuels such as
oil, coal, and gasoline. Researchers suspect that the practice of
burning fossil fuels is responsible for high levels of nitrogen
in unexpected places, like the waters of the Artic and
Antarctic, both of which are far from inhabited landmasses
and traditional sources of water pollution. Once airborne, air
currents can carry nitrogen compounds long distances before
they settle to Earth’s surface.
While the amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere is a new
environmental problem, nitrogen in the atmosphere is not
unusual. Nitrogen gas naturally makes up 78 percent of the
air, although it exists in a form that cannot be used by most
living things. To enter the food chain, atmospheric nitrogen
must be taken up by certain kinds of bacteria and algae, a
group known as “nitrogen fixers.” These organisms use nitro-
gen in the production of organic compounds within their
own bodies. As they assimilate the element, they convert it
into compounds that animals and plants can use. Without the
process of nitrogen fixation, much of this essential nutrient
would be lost to the food chain.

Risk of Disease
Sewage that is inadequately treated can be a source of disease-
causing organisms in seawater. According to the CDC,
microbes that live in the human intestinal tract, a group that
includes bacteria, viruses and parasites, can be transmitted
from one person to another through contact with contaminat-
ed sewage and through animals like shellfish.
A person who is exposed to disease agents by drinking
water or eating shellfish contaminated with sewage may con-
tract gastroenteritis, an infection of the gastrointestinal track,
or hepatitis, a disease of the liver. When levels of contamina-
tion are high, warnings are posted to let people know.
Depending on the severity of infection, symptoms of both
gastroenteritis and hepatitis can include vomiting, abdominal
pain, diarrhea, and fever. Severe cases of hepatitis can also
result in jaundice, a condition that makes the skin look yel-
low because the liver cannot process bile, a waste product.
16 People and the
T Sea

Simply exposing the skin to contaminated water by swim-

ming may result in skin infections and rashes.
Studies show that the number of individuals who are
adversely affected by sewage-contaminated water depends on
the level of pollution, with respiratory and intestinal infec-
tions increasing as concentrations of sewage increase. Even
swimming in waters that are deemed “acceptable” by the
European Union and the United States Environmental
Protection Agency is risky. The World Health Organization

Beach Closings
The beach is a favored vacation
spot for millions of Americans
who enjoy swimming, surfing,
digging in the sand, or wading. Each
summer, thousands of vacationers are
forced to stay out of the water because
fecal contamination is high. The problem
seems to be worsening; in 2003, there
were 18,284 days of beach closures and
advisories across the United States, a 51
percent rise from 2002. In Florida, the
number of closing and advisory days
increased by 128 percent, and those in
Mississippi jumped by 337 percent. The
dramatic increase in closings from 2002
to 2003 was due to two factors: an
increased rate of pollution and better
monitoring of water conditions.
Most of the pollution in beach water
comes from contaminated storm water
runoff and from sewage which carry high
levels of the bacteria that live in human
and animal wastes. Swimming in waters
containing these bacteria can cause vom-
iting and diarrhea in healthy individuals,
and can be life-threatening in infants, the
elderly, and people with weak immune
systems, such as cancer patients.
According to the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, each year more than 1.2
trillion gallons (4.5 trillion l) of untreated
sewage spills into waterways from old
sewer systems. Most of the older sewage
systems have components that are more
than 33 years old, but a few are made of
parts that have been in use as long as 200
years. A heavy rain overwhelms these
older systems, allowing rainwater and
sewage to flow into nearby waterways.
The cities strapped with these old sys-
tems can be found across the country,
but they are concentrated in the Midwest
and along the Northeast and West
Coasts. The reason that most municipali-
ties have not upgraded their sewer
systems is lack of money. Nationally,
improvements to sewage systems will
cost about $1 trillion.
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 17

states that at least one out of every 20 individuals who swims

in waters with “acceptable” levels of sewage pollutants will
become sick after entering the water just one time.
Animals that live in sewage-polluted marine waters may
also be put at risk of disease. In 2001, My Lien Dao, a biolo-
gist at the University of South Florida, analyzed tissues from
the bodies of manatees, dolphins, and whales that died in the
Gulf of Mexico or Tampa Bay. In 11 animals whose deaths
could not be attributed to other causes, such as injury by boat
propellers or entanglement in nets, Dao found the presence of
two microbes that are dangerous human pathogens:
microsporidium and cryptosporidium. Both organisms are
associated with human sewage. In otherwise healthy humans,
the microbes can produce symptoms that include abdominal
pain and diarrhea. In immune-compromised individuals,
such as AIDS patients, they can lead to serious abdominal dis-
orders. Although Dao’s work linking microsporidium and
cryptosporidium to marine mammal death is in the early
research phase, it is a strong indicator that sewage-borne
human pathogens may infect and weaken marine animals.

Sewage in the Ocean

A significant amount of sewage, in both the treated and
untreated forms, enters water from oceangoing vessels, with
10 percent coming from the toilets of cruise ships. Large ships
operate very much like small towns, generating significant
volumes of sewage. At one time, ships were allowed to dump
sewage anywhere in the ocean, but the consequences of these
practices are leading to tighter restrictions. Currently, the
Clean Water Act permits cruise ships to dump sewage and
wastewater at a distance of three miles off coast. Many coastal
states feel that this is too close to the delicate coastal environ-
ments, and they want to raise this limit to 12 miles.
Cruise ships are not the only culprits of sewage dumping;
other types of boats are also implicated. Recreational vehicles
and other small boats congregate in marinas, harbors, bays
and estuaries, all regions that are semi-enclosed. In these
sheltered areas, the waters are not flushed as well as those of
18 People and the
T Sea

Silt and Reduced Freshwater Input

The ecology of many coastal
zones is severely compromised by
the constant influx of nutrients and bacterial
contaminants, but other problems damage
their integrity too. In some regions where
the influx of freshwater is an important part
of the natural ecology, two problems are
occurring: an increased input of silt and a
reduced input of freshwater.
The amount of freshwater entering the
ocean from rivers and streams has a
remarkable affect on the salinity of seawa-
ter. If human activities upstream reduce the
amount of freshwater entering a coastal
environment, normal levels of salinity are
altered. The construction of dams and
pumping stations along rivers are just two
of the many factors that divert water away
from its natural paths and interfere with the
input of freshwater into the sea.
As freshwater input decreases, salinity of
the system increases. Salinity affects almost
every aspect of marine life. For animals that
cannot tolerate fluctuations in salinity, an
increase in water salinity creates impossible
conditions, driving long-time coastal resi-
dents to other, less salty areas and chang-
ing the character of the local food web.
Many producers such as macroalgae and
sea grasses are also sensitive to shifts in the
salinity of water and may be less productive
when salinity is altered.
Modifications in land use along river sys-
tems have changed the normal flow of sed-
iments to coastal waters. Loss of trees,
increases in the amount of construction
work, and loss of greenways bordering
rivers and streams are some of the factors
that have contributed to an increased load
of silt entering marine environments. Soil
that is suspended in water can reduce light
penetration to sea grass beds, coral reefs,
and other coastal communities. As sedi-
ments settle out of water columns, they
cover bottom-dwelling organisms and clog
the gills of fish and filter-feeders.
Sea grass beds are one of the most bio-
logically productive types of coastal habi-
tats. The habitats created by sea grass
provide food and shelter to countless inver-
tebrates like sea stars, clams, shrimp, and
crabs, as well as the juveniles of many
species of fish. In sea grass beds, young fish
are able to hide from predators while find-

the open region of the sea, so pollutants from dumped sewage

tend to stay there. In an enclosed waterway, the sewage from
one small boat is significant. Studies on bacterial contamina-
tion of seawater have shown that the untreated waste dis-
charged by one boat can contain more bacteria than the
treated wastewater of a small city.
 Marine Nutrient Enrichment 19

ing plenty of food. The fibrous roots of sea
grasses also protect sediment-dwelling
organisms from predators that would dig
their prey from the soil.
Sea grass beds modify environments by
holding sediments in place and reducing
erosion. They also slow strong currents flow-
ing through the region, making the area an
easier place for small animals to live. Even
the blades of sea grasses provide points of
attachment for a variety of organisms,
including sponges and algae. More than 100
different species of algae can be found living
on the blades of just one species of sea grass.
The health of a sea grass community
depends on the amount of sunlight that
reaches the plants. Sunlight is not able to
penetrate water that is polluted with runoff,
which carries silt, pesticides, chemicals, fer-
tilizers, and other pollutants. These pollu-
tants increase the turbidity, or cloudiness,
of the water column. Under extreme cir-
cumstances, heavy loads of silt can smother
sea grass.
Because of pollution, sea grass beds are
disappearing in most coastal regions. In the
Chesapeake Bay, sea grasses have declined
90 percent from peak levels, and areas of
the Gulf of Mexico have dropped off from
20 to 100 percent. Once lost, sea grass
beds are slow to recover and may take
decades to return to productive levels.
Not all modifications along rivers in-
crease the sediment loads. Construction can
decrease the amount of sediment reaching
the sea. Damming to control floods or to
build power plants can trap sand and gravel
that might once have traveled to the ocean,
interfering with the natural replacement of
sediment that is lost to coastal erosion.
Construction along beaches can also
change the natural distribution of coastal
materials. Breakwaters and jetties are struc-
tures that are often built to prevent the loss
of sand on beaches. Once protected by
these artificial structures, these sands can
no longer be transported down the beach
by natural actions of longshore currents,
which move parallel to the beach and nor-
mally carry sediments from one end of the
beach to the other. Such engineering proj-
ects preserve sand and soil in one region
but cause changes in the normal deposition
of sediment in other parts of the beach.

Conclusion
With experience and education, people are learning that the
oceans are fragile and subject to damage by activities in the
sea and on the land. Research is leading to a better under-
standing of natural marine systems, and a sense of responsi-
bility to care for and manage those systems.
20
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People and the Sea

High levels of nitrogen that enter terrestrial waterways and

travel to the seas cause eutrophication. Nitrogen in marine
environments is derived from several sources, including
sewage, runoff, and the atmosphere. In addition, construction
on some rivers has produced heavier-than-normal loads of silt
and sediment, while projects on others hold back sediments,
preventing them from playing their traditional roles in soil
replenishment.
The pollution problems that plague the waters of the Gulf
of Mexico are typical of plights of coastal marine systems
globally. Rainwater that runs off farms, livestock operations,
and lawns carries high levels of nitrogen into the Mississippi.
In addition, the river is the ultimate depository of sewage
from more than 40 percent of the continental United States.
When all this nitrogen-enriched water reaches the Gulf of
Mexico in the spring, it floats on top of the salty gulf waters.
As the weather warms, these nutrients spur algal blooms.
Nitrogen and phosphorus compounds act like fertilizers,
boosting production in both microscopic green organisms
and macroalgae. As populations of algae grow, they consume
all the available oxygen in the water, then die and sink to the
seafloor. There they become food for oxygen-dependent
decomposers, whose own populations experience explosive
growth. As levels of decomposers climb, oxygen supplies
dwindle until the region is eventually anoxic. The resulting
dead zone can no longer support oxygen-using organisms,
and food webs in the entire region are impacted.
Unless the amounts of nutrients entering the Mississippi
River are drastically reduced, the dead zone of the Gulf of
Mexico is destined to become a year-round event. To alter this
possibility, millions of people in the central United States
must work together to reduce nutrient loads in the river sys-
tem. In addition, wetlands and natural areas must be guarded
to protect streams and small rivers that feed the Mississippi
River. Eutrophication and anoxia in the Gulf result from plan-
ning that only sets short term goals. To put an end to this type
of ocean pollution, citizens must shift their focus to long-
term planning.
 2
rOil, Trash, and
Toxic Marine Pollution
arine degradation is a problem of global scope. For
M centuries, nearshore waters have been treated as
dumping grounds for trash and surplus materials. These same
waters receive pollutants from rivers that drain into the
ocean. As a result, marine pollutants are more concentrated
near the coasts than they are in the open sea.
During beach cleanups, group efforts to physically remove
pollutants that wash ashore, the most frequently found item
is plastic. Such finds reflect the abundance of this material in
the oceans. Many of the other pollutants are invisible or dif-
ficult to detect. Oil, heavy metals, pesticides, and radioactive
materials are often incorporated in the water column, cov-
ered in sediment, or dissolved in the water. Oil is most
noticeable when spills release hundreds of thousands of gal-
lons of toxic material into the ocean environment. Sources of
polluting oil include oil transport, oil exploration, and normal
ship operations.

Oil in the Ocean

Modern civilization runs on oil. Without crude oil, the thick
black sludge that comes from inside the Earth, products such
as gasoline and diesel fuel would not exist. In most parts of
the world, oil products provide the energy to run modern
conveniences such as transportation, heat, and electricity.
Oil reserves are not evenly distributed around the planet.
More than 65 percent of the stores of oil are located deep
under the Earth’s crust in the Persian Gulf, with smaller sup-
plies scattered around the globe. The primary consumers of
oil, industrialized regions of Europe, North America, and the
western Pacific Rim, are not located close to the sources. As a

21
22
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People and the Sea

result, oil must be transported from its sources to the con-

sumers. The most common method of moving oil over long
distances is in enormous ships called supertankers. Oil can
also be piped for relatively short distances. As oil is trans-
ferred from one place to another, some of it ends up in the
marine environment.
A little oil in the marine environment is normal. Natural
hydrocarbon seeps continuously leak low levels of oil into the
sea. Excessive amounts of oil in the ocean have complex con-
sequences, many of which are the basis for long-term, nega-
tive ecological changes. Some of the problems caused by
spilled oil are immediately obvious, like the thousands of
dead clams that washed onto a beach in South Carolina after
an offshore oil spill, shown in the lower color insert on page
C-1. Other problems are more subtle.
The behavior of oil in water is predictable. Oil is lighter
than water, so it floats on the surface. Any oil released into the
ocean quickly spreads out to form a thin layer, usually about
0.0039 inches (0.1 mm) thick, called a slick. As time passes,
the slick continues to spread and eventually forms a sheen, an
even thinner layer that gives water a rainbow-like appearance.
Oil harms living things in a variety of ways. The extent of
the damage depends on the type and volume of oil involved,
as well as the length of time organisms are exposed to it.
Microbes, plants, and fungi rarely survive an oiling of any
type. Once drenched, these organisms cannot carry out essen-
tial life processes such as gas exchange.
Fish are damaged by oil on several levels. The eggs of fish
are more vulnerable to injury than adult fish, since eggs easi-
ly absorb oil through their delicate membranes. In mature
fish, oil coats the gills and interferes with breathing. Oil
ingested as fish feed on insects and plants can lead to prob-
lems such as reduced growth, damaged fins, and lowered
reproductive rates. Fish that are exposed to constant, low lev-
els of oil experience genetic changes and cancer.
Oil can also be a death sentence for sea birds. The feathers
of birds are coated with waterproofing body oils to repel
moisture. Feathers are arranged so they overlap one another
like shingles on a roof, protecting the bodies of birds from wet
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 23

and cold conditions. The arrangement of feathers, along with

the natural avian oil, acts as an effective insulator because it
traps a layer of air close to the body that helps the animal
retain body heat. When crude or refined oil gets on the feath-
ers, it removes their waterproofing and makes the birds vul-
nerable to water and cold temperatures. As a result, most
birds that experience oiling suffer from hypothermia. In addi-
tion, birds preen, or clean, their feathers, an activity that can
sicken them because it gets a lot of oil into their bodies. Some
birds also ingest oil by eating food that is coated in it.
Mammals that live in cold climates rely on two adaptations
to keep them warm. Like birds, mammals have a thick body
covering which they meticulously groom with waterproofing
oil. The fur of otters is dense, providing them with warm win-
ter coats. As oiled otters and other grooming mammals clean
themselves, they swallow a lot of the pollutant. Seals and
whales, on the other hand, depend on blubber rather than
hair to keep them warm. They get along better during and
after an oil spill because they take in less oil than animals that
groom. Mammals also ingest the chemical by feeding on oil-
covered organisms and suffer irritation of eyes and lungs from
evaporation of some compounds in oil.
Oil may be released in the raw, or unprocessed, form or
after it has been refined. Raw, or crude, oil is not as dangerous
to living things as refined oil. Crude oil breaks down, or
degrades, when exposed to the elements. A large quantity of
crude oil, 30 to 40 percent, evaporates during the first 24 to
48 hours of a spill. The compounds that evaporate are the
most toxic flammable portions of the mix. Most of the com-
ponents in crude oil do not dissolve in water, so remain out of
the food chain and safely isolated from some living things.
Eventually the oil in a crude-oil spill is dispersed by seawater,
where its dangers are diluted by the enormous volume of the
ocean. An area suffering from a crude-oil spill can recover in
about five years.
On the other hand, refined oil poses more dangers for living
things. The process of refining removes the heavier, less biolog-
ically active parts of oil and concentrates the biologically active
ones. Many refining processes also add other compounds
24
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People and the Sea

to refined oil that are toxic to living things. As a result,

refined oil stays around longer, and does more damage, than
crude oil. Refined oil from a spill on the coast of
Massachusetts 30 years ago is still obvious in the sediments of
that beach today.
About 37 million gallons (0.88 million barrels) of oil are
spilled in the ocean each year. Oil spills are relatively recent
environmental problems, coming into existence only after the
establishment of large oil fields, supertankers, and pipelines.
One of the first major oil spills occurred when the Torrey
Canyon, a supertanker, wrecked in March of 1967.

Oil Spills
While carrying a full load from the oil fields of Kuwait, the
tanker ship Torrey Canyon, wrecked off the southern coast of
the United Kingdom. The ship’s master accidentally steered
the ship onto rocks in the Scilly Isles, a group of five islands
that lies 28 miles off the southernmost tip of Great Britain.
Rocks pierced the hull of the tanker, and 35 million gallons
(0.85 million barrels) of crude oil seeped out of the ship. At
first, winds blew the oil toward the English coasts of
Cornwall and Brittany, two important vacation destinations
and key elements of the British tourist industry. Since the
world had no previous experience with oil spills, emergency
rescue plans did not exist, and no one knew exactly what to
do. For 10 days, the British government watched the oil cover
beaches and marshes while it debated the best course of
action. Eventually officials decided to bomb the tanker in
hopes of burning the oil left inside. Once ignited, the blazing
crude oil in the ship’s hull, along with the oil that had already
spread on top of the coastal waters, created a sea of fire for
miles in all directions.
The extremely large, intense fire that erupted left much of
the oil unburned and the pristine British beaches still threat-
ened. To halt the progress of oil toward land, the government
eventually sanctioned the use of detergents and emulsifiers,
chemicals designed to break up the oil slick and help it dissi-
pate in the water. Two million gallons (10,000 tons) of chemi-
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 25

cals were sprayed on the slick. These chemicals proved to be

more toxic to wildlife than the oil itself and caused the death of
all of the limpets, barnacles, and plankton in the area.
Diving birds suffered terribly from the spill and the emulsi-
fiers. Officials estimate that more than 25,000 sea birds were
badly oiled. More than 8,000 birds were rescued and brought
in for care, but in the long run, the efforts proved to be unsuc-
cessful. One month after they were treated, only 450 birds
were still alive. These survivors were eventually tagged and
released, but only 80 are known to have survived. Birds that
were not captured died from shock and hypothermia.
A change in the wind carried part of the oil slick to the
beaches of France, but there the results were not quite as dis-
astrous. Because it took longer for the oil to make its way to
the French coast, the government had more time to contem-
plate the best course of action. Scientists, brought in to evalu-
ate the situation and give suggestions, recommended avoiding
the use of toxic chemicals, suggesting instead that powdered
chalk be sprinkled on the oil slick. The chalk bound the oil
into clumps that sank to the bottom and out of the way of
many living things.
A different type of oil-carrying vessel wrecked in
September of 1969. During the night, a tugboat pulled the
Florida, an oil barge, toward the power plant on the Cape
Cod, Massachusetts, canal. When the towlines broke, the
barge went adrift and hit boulders, creating a gash in the hull
that released 175,000 gallons (4,167 barrels) of light, refined
oil. Winds blew the lightweight oil up the coast for miles. The
effects were swift and deadly; poisoned animals, including
shellfish, birds, worms, and fish, washed ashore for days.
After the lessons learned from the wreck of the Torrey
Canyon, scientists were immediately asked for help contain-
ing the Florida spill. One future-thinking group of scientists
began a study of the event that has proved to be instrumental
in analyzing the short- and long-term effects of this kind of
environmental disaster. That particular study of the oil spill is
still ongoing today.
Researchers began their study by trawling the shallow-
water bottom of the affected area shortly after the spill to find
26
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People and the Sea

out how bottom-dwelling plants and animals had fared. The

trawl revealed that everything living in the sediment was
killed. A few weeks later, a second trawl showed that
Capitella, a worm that had previously not been abundant in
the area, was beginning to fill the void left by the death of
other kinds of organisms. Because they are resistant to dam-
age by oil, populations of Capitella worms flourished and
were soon found everywhere.
Oil lost by the Florida continued to move through the
region over the next several years. Twelve months after the
initial spill, oil was just reaching nearby marshes, wetlands,
and tidal flats. These areas suffered the same pattern of
destruction as the beaches that were oiled immediately after
the spill, losing most of their animal life. Even today, oil is
still present in the sediments. Scientists find that by digging a
few inches into the soil, they can easily uncover refined oil. In
many places, living things have returned to the soil surface,
but populations deep in the soils are still undersized.
The first offshore oil well was drilled in the Gulf of Mexico
in 1946, leading to a proliferation of productive and
exploratory drilling. Oil-drilling rigs used for exploration,
like the one in Figure 2.1, are designed to be mobile so that
once they have located oil, they can be moved and a perma-
nent rig put in place. In June 1979, an exploratory well suf-
fered a blowout. Two miles (3.22 km) below the water’s
surface in the Gulf of Mexico, the well known as Ixtoc I began
to spew oil directly into the water. A loss of fluids called
“drilling muds,” which lubricate and cool the drill bits,
caused the well to overheat and break open. Oil and gas
spewed from the well and ignited, setting the drilling plat-
form on fire. The burning platform fell into the wellhead,
blocking the efforts to cap the well and end the spill.
Unlike a tanker that is loaded with a fixed amount of oil,
the Ixtoc I churned out crude oil at the rate of 400,000 gal-
lons (9,524 barrels) a day. The spill created a black slick that
was 100 miles (160.9 km) long and 50 miles (80.5 km) wide.
Oil-spill control experts drilled two relief wells into the sides
of the spewing wellhead to relieve the pressure in hopes that
workers could get close to the blown wellhead and close it
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 27

off. At the same time, skimmers,

equipment that can remove oil from
the water’s surface, were brought in to
control its spread. The chopping
waves and strong winds rendered
them largely ineffective.
The relief wells failed, forcing the
engineers to try other solutions. More
than 100,000 steel and lead balls were
injected into the wellhead in an
attempt to seal it. This action helped
but did not stop the flow. Specialists
lowered a hatlike steel cone over the
well. The cone also slowed the gush-
ing oil but still did not stop it. In mid-
October, four months after the
accident, oil was still flowing into the
Gulf of Mexico. Finally, cement plugs
were used to close the last of the
opening. By the time the final plugs
were in place, the well had lost about
140 million gallons (3.33 million bar-
rels) of oil.
The damage to sea life was exten-
sive. More than 1,400 birds had oiled
feathers or feet. Royal terns, blue-
faced boobies, sanderlings, willets,
piping plovers, black-bellied plovers,
and snowy plovers suffered oiling to
their feathers, while great blue
herons, black-crowned night herons,
noddy terns, cattle egrets, and snowy
egrets had tarred feet. In the immedi-
ate area of water near the spill, shrimp pop- Fig. 2.1 Exploratory offshore oil rigs are
ulations were decimated. By the time the mobile structures. After a jack-up rig is
crude oil floated to the Texas coast, it had floated out to sea and positioned, telescopic
aged somewhat and begun to lose it toxicity. legs are extended to the seabed. When
Even so, the gummy residue threatened the drilling is complete, the legs can be
nesting sites of Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, an retracted and the rig moved to another site.
28
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People and the Sea

endangered animal that lays eggs only on a beach in northern

Mexico.
Perhaps the most publicized oil spill is the disaster of the
supertanker Exxon Valdez, the largest spill in the United States.
In March of 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on shallow
rocks in Prince William Sound in Alaska. Immediately, 11 mil-
lion gallons (0.2619 million barrels) of crude oil began to
spread across the water. The oil slick was huge, covering an
area that would have extended from the coast of North
Carolina to Connecticut if it had occurred off the east coast of
the United States.
In response to the wreck, thousands of people flocked to
the area to help, some volunteers, some hired by the govern-
ment, and some by Exxon. Their first goals were to contain
the oil so it could not spread further, reduce the loss of animal
life, and clean the beaches. Efforts were hampered by rough,
chopping waters and cold weather. In addition, the coastline
of Prince William Sound is rocky and more difficult to clean
than a sandy beach. The death toll was staggering. Volunteers
and scientists found millions of dead fish and invertebrates
washed up on shore. Estimates of animals killed included
3,000 otters. The number of sea bird fatalities is estimated to
be 250,000, and an unknown number of harbor seals and
killer whales were injured or killed.
As in the past, some of the cleanup efforts were more dam-
aging than useful. Along the rocky shores, high-pressure, hot
water was hosed on the rocks to clean them. As the hot water
ran off the rocks and into the sand, it cooked many of the
invertebrates that had survived the initial insult of oiling. To
this day, the effects of the Exxon Valdez spill are still being
evaluated.
Recovery in Prince William Sound is very slow. Part of the
reason is that many marine animals, like birds and mammals,
have very low reproduction rates, even in good years. Sea
birds lay only one egg each year, and even under normal cir-
cumstances, not every nesting pair lays an egg. In addition,
not all the eggs that are laid yield chicks that live to sexual
maturity. In the three years following the oil spill, some
species of birds had complete reproductive failure.
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 29

Otters ingested a lot of toxic oil as they tried to clean them-

selves. Of the ones captured and cleaned by volunteers, 70
percent died later. Harbor seals were oiled when they swam
through contaminated water and climbed onto oil-covered
rocks. However, the number of fatalities of seals is not
known. When harbor seals die, their bodies sink rather than
float. Scientists estimate that their populations dropped to
about one-third of the prespill size.
Follow-up studies of Prince William Sound have provided
useful information about the best ways to handle oil spills.
One study showed that many of the intensive cleanup opera-
tions succeeded only in removing the top layer of oil from
rocks and sand; beneath the surface, oil still exists. In all,
about 20 acres (8.09 ha) of shoreline in Prince William Sound
are still covered in oil. Most of the region still contains buried
oil, which is more problematic than oil on the surface because
it has not been weathered and degraded, so is still biological-
ly toxic. Burrowing animals and severe storms rearrange
materials on the beach, often exposing patches of buried oil
and introducing them into the ecosystem.
A much smaller spill occurred in January 2001 when the
tanker Jessica ran aground near the Galápagos archipelago.
More than 180,000 gallons (4,286 barrels) leaked out, but
most was pushed to open sea, avoiding the Galápagos Islands,
the homes of unique iguanas and other sea life. About 370
large animals who were affected by oil were treated. More
than 15,000 marine iguanas died. The Jessica disaster was a
wake-up call to the dangers posed by even a small spill in an
environmentally delicate part of the world.
Lessons learned from the oil spills may make it possible for
scientists and rescue workers to be more prepared for the next
disaster. Now it is known that most of the oil eventually wash-
es away, but some remains on beaches and in sediments for
years. In addition, most of the animals that come in contact
with oil immediately after a spill can be expected to die. High-
energy weather, the kind that whips up winds and waves,
makes the spill less damaging than quiet conditions because
the energy helps disperse the oil and breaks it down into a less-
toxic form. On the other hand, energetic waters render the
30 People and the
T Sea

work of absorbing materials and oil skimmers virtually useless.

One very important lesson learned is that some cleanup efforts
can be as damaging to the environment as the oil spill itself. In
many cases, areas that were not cleaned recovered faster than
those that were sprayed with hot water or chemical emulsifiers.
Despite the outcry after each of these disastrous events, oil
spills will continue to occur. Knowing this, new technologies
are being developed to fight future spills. Bioremediation, the
use of microorganisms to remove pollutants, has been used in
a few cases. The organic compounds in the oil provide food
for the microbes, which change it into harmless compounds.
Oil is a complex material, so a variety of different kinds of
microbes must be used. The activities of microbes are natural
processes and their effects on the environment are less dam-
aging than some other approaches. Other researchers are
working on a material made of fine powder from Australian
clay. This powder could be sprayed onto an oil spill from an
airplane, causing the oil to form clumps that sink to the
seafloor, where they are easier to clean up.

Tarballs
Small, dark-colored blobs of oil
that wash ashore are remnants of oil
spills. Crusty on the outside and soft and
sticky on the inside, tarballs have the
consistency of cream-filled candy. These
tarballs may have traveled to the beach
from hundreds of miles away.
After a crude oil spill, oil floats on the
ocean surface for several hours, undergo-
ing a series of physical changes. As the oil
spreads into a thin slick, wind and waves
separate the continuous sheet into small-
er patches. The lightest components of
the oil evaporate, leaving behind only
the heavier compounds. Some of these
combine with water to form a mixture
that has the texture of chocolate pud-
ding. The action of wind and waves con-
tinues to tear at the tar, breaking it into
small balls that vary from the size of a
dime to as big as a softball.
If a lot of tarballs find their way to
shore, they have to be removed manual-
ly. In some cases, it is impossible to get
small tar out of the sand, and the old
sand has to be shoveled up and new
sand brought in to replace it. The num-
ber and frequency of tarballs on a beach
depends on wind patterns, sea currents,
and the frequency of oil spills in the area.
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 31

Oil Releases
Major oil spills, totaling about 37 million gallons (0.88 mil-
lion barrels) a year, get a lot of media coverage and help bring
the world’s attention to the problems that oil can create in a
marine environment. However, minor spills and leaks, total-
ing 363 million gallons (8.64 million barrels) a year, account
for much more oil in the marine environment. Oil from roads,
parking lots, automobile emissions, leaky gas tanks, and
homes eventually makes its way to the ocean through sewage
systems. In addition, the routine maintenance of ships, bilge-
cleaning, spills while refueling, and accidents while loading
and unloading cargoes yield more than 137 million gallons
(3.26 million barrels) each year.
All this oil goes largely unnoticed but may be responsible
for much more damage than the leaks from tankers or oil
wells. Oil entering seawater floats on the surface and becomes
part of the thin microlayer. The microlayer is a natural struc-
ture, a unique habitat that normally contains minerals as well
as organic compounds like proteins and fatty acids that are
produced by living things. When organisms die, the oils in
their bodies float to this layer before they completely decom-
pose. A microlayer covers the surface of all the world’s oceans
and contains its own populations of microorganisms, includ-
ing larval forms of many fish and shellfish.
Chemicals that are soluble in oil, but not in water, tend to
collect in the microlayer. Oil, pesticides, heavy metals (lead,
copper, mercury, cadmium), dioxins, and other toxic pollutants
may be hundreds of time more concentrated in the surface
microlayer than in the water just an inch (2.5 cm) below it.
The tiny organisms that inhabit this layer make up the
lower levels of marine food chains. Members of both the phy-
toplankton and zooplankton are residents of the layer, and all
are exposed to oil pollutants. Sea birds float in and dive
through the top layer, exposing the sensitive tissues of their
eyes, noses, and mouths to the oil, and forming a thin coat of
oil on their feathers. For many species of fish and inverte-
brates, eggs float in the microlayer until they hatch. Eggs of
these animals are shell-less, protected only by mucus and cell
membranes. By damaging the health of animals and reducing
32
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People and the Sea

the number of eggs that hatch, the oily microlayer has a

tremendous impact on populations and the stability of the
food chain.
Oil and oil products reach the oceans in a variety of ways.
Many cities have combined sewage overflow (CSO) systems
that are designed to transport storm water and sewage to a
sewage treatment facility. Originally conceived as a way to
save money on big-city sewer systems, CSOs have proved to
be environmentally expensive. During a rainstorm, most
CSOs release both rainwater and sewage overflow into the
environment. In this way, gasoline dripped to pavement or oil
poured onto soil are able to bypass the sewage treatment facil-
ity. Instead, they land in a waterway that will eventually deliv-
er them to the ocean. The volume of oil transported in this
manner is significant. A city of 5 million people generates as
much oily runoff as the spill of a large oil tanker.

Trash in the Ocean

Each year, 1,100 pounds (500 kg) of plastic are produced for
each man, woman, and child in the United States, a total of
about 120 million metric tons. Plastic is used to make thou-
sands of items, including parts for automobiles, computers,
furniture, and construction. After serving its intended pur-
pose, a small percentage of plastic is recycled, but most is dis-
carded and makes up about 10 percent of the solid waste.
Much used plastic is disposed of in landfills, but millions of
tons make their way into the oceans. Although plastic poses
many environmental problems, its use increases each year.
One of the reasons that plastics are popular and useful is
because they are extremely longlasting. From an environmen-
tal point, it is this durability that is the worst feature of plas-
tic. The amount of time it takes for the average piece of plastic
to degrade is estimated to be 450 years. This means that once
plastic is in the environment, it is essentially there to stay.
To determine the long-term trends in the volume of plastic
in ocean water, scientists examined preserved plankton sam-
ples that have been collected over the last three decades. In
this study, plankton came from the shipping lanes between
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 33

Scotland and Iceland. Not too surprisingly, scientists found

that the amount of plastic in water tripled during that time
period.
Most plastic is less dense than water, so it floats. In one sur-
vey conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, to determine how much plastic is
floating in the ocean, scientists found that every square mile of
the ocean’s surface contains about 46,000 pieces of plastic.
Among these pieces, scientists identified items such as fish-
nets, mayonnaise jar lids, diaper liners, cigarette lighters, bags,
cups, and ropes. The largest pieces of plastic were nets and
fishing lines that stretched for miles. Commonly known as
“ghost nets” among seagoing people, these death traps drown
thousands of birds, turtles, and marine mammals each year.
Scientists also learned that ghost nets wrap around delicate
coral reefs, strangling and starving the coral animals, other
reef invertebrates, and a variety of reef fish, paving the way for
the growth of algae on top of the delicate coral.
Since the 1970s, environmentalists have been gathering
data about the negative impacts of plastic in the ocean. Six-
pack rings, one of the most troublesome items, form nooses
that strangle fish and birds. Sea turtles, mistaking plastic bags
and balloons for jellyfish, consume these plastic items, which
block the animals’ digestive systems and cause them to either
choke to death or starve. Some animals, like the Hawaiian
monk seal in the upper color insert on page C-2, get plastic
ropes wrapped around their necks. Birds, like albatross and
gulls, search for red, pink, and brown pieces of plastic floating
in the water, and have been found with toothbrushes, toys,
cigarette lighters, and jar lids in their stomachs. The albatross
in the lower color insert on page C-2 are floating among, and
eating, bits of plastic. Apparently the birds mistake these
brightly colored chunks of debris for shrimp. Baby seabirds
have been found starved to death in their nests, their stom-
achs packed full of red bits of plastic.
Small pieces of plastic in the marine environment may have
as big, or an even greater, impact on the ecology as large
pieces. Rice-sized grains of partially broken-down plastic are
called nurdles or mermaids’ tears. Because these particles
34
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People and the Sea

look like the eggs of fish or shellfish, zooplankton, the tiny

animals that float in the upper layer of the ocean, eat them.
When zooplankton are examined under the microscope, their
bodies are filled with nurdles. Similar examinations show that
the bodies of jellyfish also contain nurdles as well as slightly
larger plastic items.
Plastic can interfere with the normal functions of the diges-
tive tracts of living things, but they also create another prob-
lem. In the ocean, plastic debris soaks up toxins that are not
soluble in water. Plastics floating in the water column may
contain up to a million times more toxins than the water
itself. Some of the poisons found in plastics include PCB and
DDT. In an animal’s body, these chemicals seep into tissues,
poisoning them. Even if the dose of poison is not lethal, it
interprets the normal functioning of the endocrine, reproduc-
tive, and immune body systems.
Plastic and other floating trash is not evenly distributed on
the ocean’s surface. Trash tends to accumulate in areas where
two different ocean currents abut and create swirls. The
largest of these ocean swirls is called the central gyre, a huge
circle of water that travels in a clockwise direction in the
North Atlantic Ocean. Much of the gyre is part of the Sargasso
Sea, a place where sargassum weeds accumulate and the home
to thousands of marine organisms that live on or among the
weeds. The sea also serves as a spawning ground for many
types of fish.
To solve this ongoing problem, some researchers urge the
production of degradable plastics or the use of natural materi-
als that degrade easily. Two types of degradable plastic are
biodegradable and photodegradable. Biodegradable plastics
are tiny pieces of plastic that are held together in a cornstarch
matrix. When the cornstarch breaks down, the plastic falls
apart. In several states, including New York, Massachusetts,
and Rhode Island, manufacturers are required by law to make
six-pack rings of biodegradable plastic. Photodegradable plas-
tic is similar, but it becomes weak and falls apart when
exposed to light. In both types of biodegradable material,
plastic pieces still enter the water. However, they are not large
enough to strangle or choke animals.
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 35

Toxic Pollutants
Other materials that enter the ocean from land-based activi-
ties include pesticides, heavy metals, and radioactive wastes.
Pesticides are a diverse group of chemicals that are designed
to repel, kill, or reduce organisms that are considered pests,
including weeds, rodents, fungi, and bacteria. One class of
chemically related pesticides, the organophosphates, kills by
interfering with the transmission of impulses through the
nervous systems. Organophosphates were developed in the
early 19th century. Some were used in World War II as “nerve
gases,” but in 1932 their effectiveness as pesticides put them
to common use. Organophosphates are very toxic but do not
persist for extremely long periods of time in the environment.
Another group of chemically related pesticides are called the
organochlorine insecticides. These chemicals, which include
DDT, were very popular in the past, but most have been
removed from the market. DDT, like others in its chemical fam-
ily, is not very soluble in water but dissolves easily in fats and
oil, so it accumulates in the fatty tissues of animals. Because
organochlorines cannot be easily broken down by bacteria,
they stay in the environment for long periods. Another prob-
lem stems from the fact that DDT and its relatives evaporate
easily so they can also enter the ocean through the water cycle.
After vaporizing, they can travel in the atmosphere to any place
on Earth, then fall into the ocean as precipitation.
Organochlorines are not used in United States anymore, but
some developing countries still produce and apply them.
In ocean ecosystems, DDT and other polluting chemicals
are first taken up by phytoplankton, which are eaten by zoo-
plankton. Zooplankton serve as food for small animals, which
are the food of large animals. With each step in the food
chain, the amount of DDT ingested and retained in the bodies
of organisms increases due to a process called biomagnifica-
tion. In very low doses, DDT and other pesticides have few
negative effects on humans and other animals. By the time
DDT reaches top predators like birds and fish, it has often
accumulated to toxic doses. Environmentalists first recog-
nized that DDT was causing problems in the 1970s. Brown
36 People and the
T Sea

pelicans normally raise hundreds of thousands of offspring

each year, but in 1970 the entire population of adult birds
produced only three chicks. Scientists found that the parents
were breeding and laying eggs, but the eggs had very thin
shells. High levels of DDT resulted in fragile eggs that cracked
when the parents attempted to brood them.
Heavy metals, a group of natural, metallic elements which
includes lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, copper, chromium,
selenium and zinc, can also be toxic pollutants. As components
of the Earth’s crust, they are normal parts of the environment in
extremely low concentrations. A few heavy metals, such as
copper, selenium, and zinc, are essential in living things in very
low quantities but are toxic in higher concentrations.
Many industrial processes concentrate heavy metals. For
example, mercury is a by-product of the combustion of coal,
the manufacture of pesticides and fungicides, and several
mining procedures. Electroplating, the manufacture of plas-
tics, and mining generate high levels of cadmium. Arsenic is
used in mining, herbicides, and as a wood preservative.
Since heavy metals do not dissolve, most that make their
way to the oceans settle to the bottom where they are fed on
by bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates like oysters and
clams. The digestive systems of many species of fish and
shellfish are capable of excreting most metals that the animals
consume. But two of the metals, cadmium and mercury, can-
not be excreted, so these elements accumulate in the bodies
of organisms that feed on them. As they move up the food
chain, the metals biomagnify and top predators end up with
lethal doses in their tissues.
One of the worst cases of heavy-metal biomagnification,
illustrated in Figure 2.2, occurred in Japan. From the 1930s

Fig. 2.2 During the 1950s, mercury compounds discharged into Minamata Bay, Japan,
were consumed by plankton. Fish ate the plankton, and mammals such as cats and
humans consumed the fish, passing the mercury up the food chain. Cats were the first
organisms to display severe nervous system disease from consuming mercury. Soon after,
humans began to suffer similar symptoms and many died. Children of mothers poisoned
by eating the mercury-tainted fish were born with severe deformities.
Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 37
38
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People and the Sea

through the 1950s, a vinyl-chloride plant located on

Minamata Bay, Japan, dumped mercury-laden industrial waste
in the water. Fish and shellfish living in the bay took in the
mercury. The safe consumption level of mercury is 0.2 mil-
ligrams per week, but people and animals eating fish from the
bay were unknowingly getting doses as high as 14 milligrams
per week. Since the 1950s, hundreds of people have died from
mercury poisoning and hundreds of others have been debili-
tated with muscle spasms and blurred vision. The babies born
to poisoned mothers suffered gnarled limbs and other birth
defects. Although the government officially recognizes 2,265
victims, 1,435 of whom are already dead, another 15,000 peo-
ple claim to be victims of mercury poisoning. New research
supports their claims, indicating that even weak concentra-
tions of the deadly metal can lead to birth defects and brain
damage.
Radioactive wastes are toxic materials produced when
unstable forms of atoms break down. The high energy pro-
duced by radioactive decay is dangerous if it strikes DNA, the
genetic material in cells. Changes to DNA may lead to cancer
and other serious conditions.
Most radioactive material results from the activities of
nuclear power plants or the production of nuclear weapons.
Waste material created in the manufacturing process is
radioactive for 10,000 years after use. Currently, most of this
radioactive waste is being stored in pools of cool water, but it
is accumulating at a fast rate. Some people have suggested
disposing of nuclear wastes in the deep ocean, but studies
done on barrels experimentally dropped into the sea show
that they break apart. Another idea up for consideration is
putting the radioactive waste in deep ocean trenches so they
can be recycled into the Earth’s hot interior. At the present
time, this method of disposal is not being used.
In the environments of nuclear reactors, some dilute
radioactive materials, such as weakly radioactive metals, are
created in the cooling waters. In the past, some of these mate-
rials have entered the ocean. Nuclear energy also made its
way into marine environment through radioactive fallout
after nuclear explosions.
 Oil, Trash, and Toxic Marine Pollution 39

Some of the radioactive compounds produced by explo-

sions and in reactors are very similar in structure to natural
materials that are routinely used in living things. For exam-
ple, radioactive strontium has a structure very much like cal-
cium, and the body will take it up. Therefore, radioactive
strontium can become concentrated in the teeth and bones of
living things. Once incorporated in the body, radioactive
strontium damages cells and tissues.
The most radioactive organisms on the Earth are marine
shrimp (Gennadas valens). Found in waters of the North
Atlantic that is 1,968.5 to 4,921.3 feet (600 to 1,500 m) deep,
these shrimp take up a naturally occurring unstable isotope of
polonium, 210Po. Although most of these shrimp contain
enough of the radioactive material in their bodies to harm a
human, they do not seem to be damaged by it. The shrimp,
like many other kinds of animals, are more resistant to the
effects of radioactivity than humans.

Conclusion
Damage to the marine environment can be caused by a variety
of pollutants, including oil, trash, toxic chemicals, heavy met-
als, and radioactive wastes. Oil enters waterways in two ways:
from accidental spills and from leaks originating from land-
based activities. Spills can occur from tankers, oil wells,
barges, and oil pipes. One of the most famous oil spills was
the wreck of the tanker Exxon Valdez, whose hull smashed
into rocks off the coast of Prince William Sound of Alaska in
1989. The pristine, rocky Alaskan coast proved to be a diffi-
cult one to remediate, and effects of the spill still linger.
Thousands of animals died, including fish, birds, and mam-
mals, and thousands of others were injured.
Like most of the recent spills, the area has become part of a
long-term study to learn more about the best way to handle
future oil spills. One lesson learned from oil disasters is that
remediation can be as damaging to the environment as the oil
itself. Chemicals that emulsify the oil have proven deadly to
living things and efforts to wash rocks and beaches with hot
water also cook organisms living in the sand and soil. In some
40
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People and the Sea

cases, natural recovery is preferable to chemical and mechan-

ical intervention.
Although oil spills have long-term, fatal consequences for
many organisms, oil leaks from runoff contribute the majori-
ty of oil to the marine environment. Oil that slowly seeps into
the sea becomes part of the microlayer, a thin skin of natural-
ly produced chemicals found at the surface of the water.
When a microlayer incorporates oil and other chemicals like
pesticides, the organisms that live there are constantly
exposed to extremely high levels of these pollutants.
Trash in the marine environment has been a problem for
decades and may constitute the most obvious form of marine
pollution. Plastic is a long-lasting material that can persist in
the environment for more than 400 years. Animals living in
the ocean must deal with plastic in a variety of ways. Some
accidentally ingest large pieces, mistaking them for prey.
Others get tangled in plastic lines and nets, often starving or
drowning as a result. Small organisms, like phytoplankton
and jellyfish, ingest plastic nurdles, taking in toxins like pes-
ticides as they do.
Pesticides, heavy metals, and radioactive wastes also make
their way to the oceans from a variety of land-based sources.
Some pesticides bio-accumulate, increasing in concentration
up the food chain and proving fatal to top-level predators like
birds, large fish, and mammals. Pesticides that persist for long
periods of time, like DDT, can still be found in marine envi-
ronments, even though they have not been produced for sev-
eral decades. Heavy metals never degrade but sometimes are
removed from biologically active environments by sinking
into the sediments. Radioactive materials are dangerous for
thousands of years, and their disposal may be one of the
toughest problems facing environmentalists.
Most ocean pollution is the result of short sightedness and
lack of planning on the part of humans. The clearest lesson
that emerges is that people can, and do, pollute, often because
they do not see the advantage of taking care of the marine
environment. By gaining a better understanding of the oceans’
importance, the world’s citizens may also begin to see the
advantages of taking care of the resources.
 3
rFishing and the
Mariculture Industry
he ocean is the world’s largest natural resource.
T Traditionally, the sea has not been considered property,
like land, but rather a resource that belongs to all people. For
this reason, there have been few restrictions on where and
how fisherman could engage in their trade. A simple freedom-
of-the-seas doctrine has guided the activities of fishermen for
centuries.
When technology made it possible to build far-reaching
fleets of ships, questions of sea ownership began to unfold. By
the 1960s, efficient fishing vessels were traveling around the
world in search of the best catches. Conflicting claims over
prime fishing areas led to tensions on an international level.
In 1982, after nine years of work, the United Nations pro-
duced a treaty, commonly known as the “constitution for the
oceans,” to regulate activity at sea.
Several important judgments came out of this treaty. One
stated that the seabed belongs to everyone, and all people are
responsible for protecting it. Another established clear mar-
itime zones called exclusive economic zones (EEZs) giving
coastal nation-states the rights to conserve, use, and regulate
the resources on their bordering continental shelves. These
zones, which average about 200 miles from the shore, provide
each coastal nation-state with the rights to its own nearshore
fisheries. The constitution made it legal for nation-states to
expel foreign fishing boats in their waters. Establishment of
EEZs reduced conflict and made fishing safer.

Fish as Food
In some cultures, fish and shellfish have always been the most
important forms of protein in the diet. The earliest fishermen

41
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People and the Sea

reaped relatively small catches using simple spears, hooks,

lines, and small handmade nets. The impact of this suste-
nance fishing had little negative impact on the populations of
fish or the environment.
Seafood has historically been more popular in some cul-
tures than others. During the last century, interest in seafood
has spread across the globe, and even consumers in countries
that previously used very few marine products in their diets
joined the seafood marketplace. Two factors accounted for
the increase in the sales of fish and shellfish: rapid population
growth and new information about the health benefits of eat-
ing seafood.
Seafood currently provides 40 percent of the protein con-
sumed in most Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand, and
China. The percentage is much smaller in the rest of the
world, including the United States, where the average con-
sumer eats only about 16 pounds (7.3 kg) of seafood each
year, an amount equal to 6 percent of total dietary protein.
Even so, this relatively small intake of fish greatly exceeds
consumption in the past.
As the demand for seafood rises, fishermen are becoming
increasingly adept at filling it. Today’s fishing boats can be
outfitted with sonar for finding schools of fish, or satellite
links that can show fishermen images of fish schools in the
ocean. Modern fishermen also take advantage of hydrophones
(microphones that pick up sound underwater) and aerial
photographs from flyovers.
The impact of this sophisticated technology on fish catches
has been substantial. In 1950, the total world catch was less
than 20 million metric tons (mmt). Over the past two
decades, the catch has quadrupled, stabilizing at about 87
mmt. While the demand for seafood has risen, consumers are
using it in more ways now than they did in 1950, so the pro-
portion of catch dedicated to human consumption has
decreased. In 1950, 90 percent of the seafood harvest went to
a dinner plate, with only 10 percent as food for animals. By
1980, only 60 percent of the world catch was destined for
consumption, with 40 percent used for livestock.
Only a few species of fish are valuable to large-scale, com-
mercial fishermen. The most profitable catches are species of
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 43

fish that must live in dense populations or travel in schools;

species that feed alone are more difficult to catch. Of the
thousands of species of fish in the ocean, only 10 groups
attract the attention of fishermen. The fish in these 10 groups
make up 95 percent of the catch:

Group 1—anchovies, herring, sardines

Group 2—cods, hakes, haddocks
Group 3—jack, mullets, sauries
Group 4—mollusks
Group 5—basses, redfish
Group 6—crustaceans
Group 7—billfishes, bonitos, tuna
Group 8—cutlass fishes, mackerel, snooks
Group 9—flounder, halibuts, soles
Group 10—miscellaneous fish

To catch fish, fishermen must first know where to look for

them. Fish are not evenly distributed in the oceans. Since
most of the open ocean is low in nutrients, few of the com-
mercially important species can be found there. Most fisher-
men concentrate their efforts in the two general areas where
fish populations are the highest: over the nutrient-rich conti-
nental shelves or in areas where nutrients upwell. More than
90 percent of all commercial fishing takes place in temperate
continental-shelf water, primarily in the Northwest, Southeast,
and West-Central Pacific and Northeast Atlantic. Regions that
experience significant upwellings, and attract a lot of fisher-
man, can be found off the western coast of the United States,
western Africa, western South America, Peru, and northern
Chile.

Commercial Fishing Techniques

There are several ways to catch fish commercially. Nets and
buckets take advantage of the schooling behavior of many
species. Traps and baited lines with hooks are some of the
techniques employed to catch fish and shellfish that are lon-
ers. All the modern fishing techniques are designed to bring
in the largest number of fish possible on each expedition.
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People and the Sea

Hook and line, or longline, gear is a relatively simple setup

compared to some of the other fishing techniques. In com-
mercial line fishing, floats support a continuous mainline to
which is connected 1,000 to 3,000 secondary, shorter lines,
each ending with hooks. The short lines are widely spaced,
most about the length of a football field from the line next to
it. Hooks can be single barbed or have multiple barbs, and
each secondary line carries hundreds or thousands of hooks.
A mainline may stretch for 15 to 40 miles (24.1 to 64.4 km).
Several types of bait can be placed on the hooks, including
live fish, pieces of dead fish, and artificial lures. Some fisher-
men also ladle chum, ground-up oily fish, into the water to
attract fish to the area.
Migratory fish who are top predators in the food chain, like
swordfish, tuna, shark, billfish, and halibut, are some of the
targets of these longline fishermen. Longlines are strung out
in zones where the targeted species are known to frequent,
such as the region that extends from the northern coast of
South America, through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico,
and up along the coast of central North America.
Off the central coast of North America, longline fisherman
divide the ocean into three fishing zones: the shelf zone, which
is nearest the coast; the slope zone, where the shelf drops off to
deeper regions; and the waters of the Gulf Stream, a warm-
water current flowing up from tropical regions. Some of the
most popular spots within these regions are the points where
water masses form eddies. Eddies often contain a lot of food for
bottom-dwelling fish. A longliner will use weather reports and
satellite imaging to find the exact locations of these moving
eddies and set his lines there. Places where warm waters eddy
toward the shore are particularly rich in fish.
Longline fishermen point out that, compared to other
fishing styles, they take in a much smaller percentage of
bycatch, or unintended catch. By setting hooks and lines far
from one another, fishermen are often able to release
bycatch into the ocean with little physical damage. In addi-
tion, many longline fishermen use relatively small hooks
and line that will break to allow some of the largest spawn-
ing stocks of fish to get away.
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 45

Despite these advantages, critics of longlines point out that

they are responsible for the unnecessary loss of animal life.
Some of the animals that are attracted to baited hooks of long-
lines include seabirds, turtles, fish, and mammals. When
albatross spot the baited hooks, they dive for them, swallow-
ing the hooks in the process. Currently, longline fishing is the
greatest threat to the survival of albatross and terns. About
400 albatross die each week because of longlines.
Instead of lines and hooks many fisheries depend on active
entrapment gear, which includes trawls, dredges, and seines,
illustrated in Figure 3.1. Trawls, big nets that are pulled
behind boats, can be performed on the water’s surface, in mid-
water, or along the bottom, depending on the kind of fish tar-
geted. In any case, the bottom net of the trawl is held down
with weights and the top is held up in the water with floats. A
spreading device keeps the mouth of the trawl net open.
Trawls are very efficient at catching species of silver trevally,
tiger flathead, redfish, john dory, sharks, and rays, as well as
mollusks and crustaceans. On the other hand, trawls also bring
up a large bycatch, like the one in the upper color insert on
page C-3. In the Gulf of Mexico, where shrimping is a $400
million industry, shrimp trawlers catch finfish such as red snap-
per and king mackerel as well as corals, other invertebrates,
and sea turtles. The lower color insert on page C-3 shows a sea
turtle that was trapped in a trawling net and drowned.
Bottom trawling can be done in the relatively shallow
waters of the continental shelves, at depths of 328.1 to 656.2
feet (100 to 200 m) or in deeper, oceanic seas. Critics of the
fishing technique point out that bottom trawling destroys
entire benthic habitats, such as coral reefs and sponge beds. In
recent years, interest in fish such as orange roughy has
increased the rate of bottom trawling done around seamounts,
underwater mountains that are rich in sea life.
Dredges, boxlike devices with rigid frameworks, work very
much like bottom trawls. Dredges drag heavy chains through
soft mud and sediment, targeting bivalves like mussels, clams,
scallops, and oysters. Critics complain that dredging is one of
the most harmful fishing practices because, like bottom
trawls, dredges disturb the integrity of the seafloor, often
46
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People and the Sea

Fig. 3.1 Three commercial fishing methods are drift netting, trawling, and
purse seining. A series of drift nets (a) are hung vertically in the water
using floats (b). Schools of fish (c) swim into the netting and become
trapped. Trawls (d) are large, conical nets pulled behind fishing vessels.
Schools of fish (e) swim directly into the nets. When a school of fish is
spotted (f), a speedboat can leave a fishing vessel, surround the school with
a purse seine net, then return to the vessel. The net can be drawn together
at the bottom to create a bowl-shaped enclosure (g).
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 47

gouging several inches into the sediments. Dredge gear crushes

benthic organisms and damages breeding and feeding grounds
of many species. Some parts of the seafloor are dredged hun-
dreds of times a year and currently resemble bare concrete. It
can take hundreds of years for the seafloor to recover from the
effects of dredging.
Fish can also be caught in purse seines, huge, rectangular
nets that are held in position by floats along the top and
weights at the bottom. Fisherman find a school of fish, then
send one man out from a large fishing vessel in a skiff. The skiff
carries the purse seine net in a circle around the school and
then ends back at the big vessel, as pictured in the upper color
insert on page C-4. Seine nets are 3,600 feet (1,100 m) long and
595 feet (180 m) wide. When the seine is closed, it draws
together like a purse, enclosing thousands of schooling fish
such as tuna and menhaden. This sacklike net forms a bottom
that keeps fish from escaping and can collect up to 150,000
pounds (68,000 kg) of fish each time. As shown in the lower
color insert on page C-4, once pulled out of the water, the catch
is dumped into the hold of a ship and carried to market.
Because tuna are schooling fish that sell for an excellent
price, they are ideal species for purse seining. However, dol-
phins often get trapped in the nets intended for tuna and
drown. Tuna are schooling fish that like to congregate under
floating logs and schools of dolphins. The presence of dol-
phins in the water is such a reliable indicator of tuna that fish-
ermen watch for the mammals to help them find their
intended prey.
In the 1950s fisherman would send out helicopters or small
vessels to look for dolphins. Once they were spotted, speed-
boats were deployed to herd the dolphins, and the tuna
beneath them, into a small group. The boats then encircled
the school of dolphins and tuna with purse seine nets. Once
the net was set in place, the net’s bottom was “pursed” to keep
tuna from escaping. Since dolphins are air-breathing mam-
mals, those trapped in the net died of asphyxiation. Between
1950 and 1990, more than 6 million dolphins died in purse
seine nets. As a result, the populations of dolphins became
seriously depleted.
48
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People and the Sea

Public outcry forced the fishing industry to look for meth-

ods that would reduce dolphin deaths. Techniques such as
“backing down,” lowering the net to let dolphins swim out,
have saved a lot of the mammals. In addition, the installation
of Medina Panels, nets with mesh sizes less likely to trap dol-
phins, also helped. One of the biggest factors in reducing dol-
phin deaths was the refusal of tuna canners to buy tuna
caught by encircling dolphins. Today the number of dolphins
killed annually is down to about 2,500, and dolphin popula-
tions are recovering.
Nets, pots, and traps are used in a different form of fishing,
passive entrapment. Traps and pots are small devices that are
baited and then set on the seabed, either individually or in
groups. Both pots and traps are cagelike, made of a variety of
materials from wood to plastic, and opening in more than one
place. Buoys attached to pots and traps help fishermen recov-
er their catches. Pots often have one or more funnel-shaped
openings. Lobsters and shrimp are two kinds of crustaceans
targeted by pots and traps.
Trap nets are stationary, uncovered nets that are anchored
and fixed on stakes. In many coastal regions, trap nets are
fashioned from stakes, reeds, branches and strings. Most are
designed with several chambers that funnel fish into a remov-
able catch chamber.
Fish that are caught in another type of equipment, entangle-
ment gear, literally get their bodies, fins, or gills tangled in net-
ting, like those in the gill net being hauled aboard a boat in the
upper color insert on page C-5. One type of entangling gill net is
the drift net. Drift nets, made of fine-gauged threads suspended
in the water, snare fish attempting to swim through them.
Originally designed by consultants from the United Nations,
drift nets were introduced as a method to boost the harvest of
small, sustenance fishermen in several Asian countries. Big sec-
tions of net, called tans, are about 132 to 165 feet long (40 to 50
m) and 23 feet (7 m) tall. One or two fishermen deploying a
drift net could bring in enough fish for their families and to sell.
When commercial fishing fleets began using drift nets, they
sewed hundreds of tans together, creating walls of netting that
stretched up to 50 miles (80 km). Instead of using threads that
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 49

biodegrade, commercial enterprises make their nets of nylon

and polyester, two synthetic threads that can remain intact for
hundreds of years. During the night, boats deployed miles of
drift nets into the water to catch a variety of fish, including
salmon and squid. Until 1993, fishermen from Taiwan, Korea,
and Japan were letting out 30,000 miles (48,000 km) of drift
nets every night, enough to encircle the Earth.
Long drift nets quickly gained reputations as “walls of
death” because of the number of animals they lethally snared,
including a large bycatch. Annually, in the North Pacific,
these nets caused the deaths of as many as 15,000 Dall’s por-
poises, 700,000 seabirds, and countless turtles, sharks, and
fish. In addition, as fishermen hauled in their catches, the
nets would break, setting free miles of “ghost nets” that drift-
ed around the sea for decades, killing everything they entan-
gled. These large drift nets are now banned worldwide, but
poachers still use them illegally in the Pacific Ocean.

Consequences of Overfishing
Modern techniques are extremely effective at catching fish.
Numerous marine scientists fear that the efficiency of today’s
fishing technology is pushing many species to the brink of
extinction. In some cases, fisheries have already reached, or
exceeded, the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), the most
that can be taken without damaging the size of future popula-
tions. The National Marine Fisheries Service estimates that 45
percent of commercially important fish species are overfished.
Some of these overfished species may have populations that
are reduced to as little as 10 percent of their original levels.
Overfishing follows a typical pattern. A species of fish or
shellfish gains public interest. In hopes of cashing in on the new
market, hundreds of fishermen switch their focus from what
they had previously been fishing to the new species. The earliest
fishermen to get outfitted for the new species find plenty of fish
and turn huge profits. Inspired by this success, other individuals
or companies invest in expensive fishing equipment in hopes of
similar catches, often spending money in anticipation of the
same level of success seen by the first fishermen.
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People and the Sea

In the beginning, fish are plentiful and harvests are good.

In addition, many of the fish caught are the large, older mem-
bers of the population. After just a few years of great fishing,
the situation begins to change. Fishermen find that the aver-
age size of fish in the catch drops, so they must take a greater
number of fish each year just to keep even. There are no more
big individuals in the catches because the largest ones were
caught in the first few years. With all the mature fish gone,
catches consist primarily of juveniles, most of which have not
reached reproductive maturity. In addition, fishermen must
travel farther, spend more time, and work harder to bring in
the fish they do catch. Within a matter of years, there are so
few of the targeted fish left that the slim catches do not justi-
fy commercial fishing efforts.
One of the first global lessons in overfishing came in the
1970s, when the anchoveta fisheries collapsed. Anchoveta are
small fish that consume phytoplankton. At one time,
anchoveta populations off the coast of Peru were dense
because that is where deep, nutrient-rich water wells to the
surface. The nutrients in the upwelling water support phyto-
plankton, which in turn support the anchoveta.
In 1950 a product called fishmeal was developed. Made of
ground-up anchoveta, fishmeal was marketed as a protein
supplement that could be added to the feed of many livestock,
including cattle, chickens, and pigs. In the beginning phases
of the fishmeal business, demand for the product was slim, so
only 7,000 tons of anchoveta were required to fill it. By 1962
demand for fishmeal had increased dramatically, and the fish-
ery yielded 6.5 million tons. In 1970 catches hit record highs
of more than 12 million tons, accounting for 22 percent of all
the fish caught in the world.
In the years of increasing demand, fishermen and scientists
noticed that the size of individual fish being caught was
decreasing, the first hint that fishing pressure on this group of
animals might be too high. In 1972, after a winter of adverse
weather conditions, the catch plummeted to only 2 million
tons of anchoveta. Finally, recognizing that overfishing of
anchoveta had serious repercussions, the Peruvian govern-
ment placed restrictions and quotas on fishing. Anchoveta are
recovering, but their populations are still small.
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 51

Another example of overfishing occurred with the red

drum or redfish in the Gulf of Mexico. In this case, a relative-
ly unknown fish became a highly desired species after a Cajun
recipe for blackened redfish was introduced to the public in
1980. When consumer interest in the fish escalated, fishermen
responded. Boats, outfitted with new purse seines, targeted
stocks of red drums. From 1983 to 1986, the commercial
catch of red drum doubled.
With so many fishermen after one kind of fish, populations
of red drum declined quickly. By 1988, the federal govern-
ment judged that red drums were overfished and banned their
harvest. Today the fish are unavailable to commercial fisher-
men, although recreational fisherman may pursue them.
Like red drums, salmon moved from a place of relative
obscurity to one of prominence when the health benefits of
eating fish became widely known. There are five species of
wild Alaska salmon that are popular with diners: sockeye, king
or Chinook, coho, chum, and pink. All types of salmon spawn
in rivers, but mature individuals spend most of their lives in
the oceans. Unlike many other species of fish, salmon spawn
only one time in their lives. To do so, they swim back to the
places where they were born, traveling through coastal zones,
estuaries, rivers, and streams to do so. Even before overfishing
decimated their numbers, many adult salmon were finding it
impossible to make it back to their natal streams because of
construction projects in their streams and rivers.
Fishermen in pursuit of salmon take advantage of the fish-
es’ instinct to travel inland in tightly packed schools. As
schools of the salmon swim through coastal and estuarine
areas, fishermen net them. In many places, intense fishing has
reduced populations to dangerously low levels. In an effort to
give salmon an opportunity to recover, some coastal regions
regulate salmon fishing.
For all species of fish, the consequences of overfishing are
complex and far-reaching. When one species of fish becomes
extinct, or even suffers from reduced population size, all the
organisms in that fish’s food chain are affected and undergo
adjustments. Organisms that are prey of the overfished species
may proliferate and cause problems for other animals or plants
in the environment. On the other hand, organisms that feed on
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the overfished species may die from starvation. The loss of one
or two species from a food chain disrupts the entire food chain
and interferes with the flow of energy through it.

Mariculture Techniques
With the global increase in demand for seafood, one of the
logical solutions has been mariculture, growing marine
organisms for food or other products under controlled con-
ditions. Currently, farmed fish and shellfish, like salmon and
shrimp, supply one-third of the seafood that people eat. Fish
are becoming an increasingly important part of the diet,
making mariculture one of the fastest-growing branches of
agriculture.
The idea of growing seafood is not new. The Chinese began
raising carp 3,500 years ago. Even the Egyptians farmed their
own tilapia 2,500 years ago, and oysters have been grown in
Japan for more than 2,000 years. Traditionally, most maricul-
ture farms have been small, family-managed businesses that
required a lot of labor.
Today some small farms still exist, but the trend is toward
large, highly automated operations. Altogether, mariculture
accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s catch, or about
10 million metric tons (14 million tons) of food. Most of the
revenue in mariculture currently comes from fish such as
salmon and plaice, shellfish like shrimp, oysters, mussels,
abalone, and seaweeds such as kelp.
In Asian countries, there are numerous, long-established
mariculture enterprises. The United States, on the other
hand, is just getting into the market. Most U.S. mariculture is
located in the south, concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico
around the mouth of the Mississippi River. Coastal sites in
unpolluted waters are ideal locations for raising fish and
shellfish, but they can sometimes be difficult to locate. The
lack of adequate coastal sites has given rise to an offshore
mariculture industry within the EEZ of the United States.
Kelp is brown seaweed that can be commercially grown and
harvested on “seaweed” farms. There are several important
products derived from kelp, including algin, iodine, and man-
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 53

nitol. These compounds find use in medicine, food, textiles,

and printing. In addition, kelp is consumed by some people.
In a mariculture method called rafting, kelp are attached to
ropes suspended from rafts. By moving the rafts from place to
place along the coast, kelp farmers can keep their crops in
areas where pollution is low and water temperature is cool,
less than 50°F (10°C). Nitrogen fertilizer is used to augment
the natural levels of this nutrient in the water.
In the Gulf of Mexico, several marine animals are grown in
mariculture. Shrimp, menhaden, crabs, oysters, spiny lob- Fig. 3.2 Oysters and
sters, groupers, snappers, mullet, tuna, and black drum are mussels can be grown in
harvested. The most commercially valuable of these species is mariculture. Free-
shrimp, and menhaden are the second-largest harvest. Too swimming oyster or
oily to use for human food, menhaden are converted into fish mussel larvae can be
meal and used in animal food. captured at sea with
dangling lines, to which
Oysters can be farmed in their natural habitats in a variety
they stick (a). Larvae are
of ways. One method simply places immature oysters in shal- grown in seawater tanks
low marine water, where the substrate is hard. Although this (b) until they are large
technique keeps oyster populations centrally located, many of enough to be transfered to
the young bivalves fall prey to crabs. Another technique, sea. Young oysters are
shown in Figure 3.2, lifts oysters off the bottom, suspending attached to vertical poles
them in water from floating rafts that are similar to those used or ropes (c) in shallow
in kelp farming. Off-the-bottom culturing techniques have tidal waters to grow.
54 People and the
T Sea
Genetically Engineered Fish
Genetically engineered, or transgenic,
salmon are being produced in farms all
over the world. One genetically engi-
neered version of the North Atlantic
salmon grows seven times faster than the
typical salmon. In addition, this fish is more
attractive to potential mates than unaltered
fish, so it has greater reproductive success.
Transgenic fish, animals that contain
genes from more than one organism, are
currently being considered for approval
by the U.S. Food and Drug Association. A
few experimental genetically engineered
fish have already been developed for
study. Cells of the transgenic Atlantic
salmon contain genes from the Chinook
salmon that increase the amount of
growth hormone they produce. Growth
hormone speeds the development of
organisms, and in Atlantic salmon it stim-
ulates the fish to grow faster than nor-
mal. For farmers, this gene makes fish
farming more efficient because it pro-
duces more fish with less fish food.
Proponents of the project explain that
transgenic fish can supply the consumer
with a healthy food that was raised and
harvested in a way that does not inter-
fere with the recovery of salmon in the
natural populations. To prevent the
altered fish from breeding with native
been used in Asian countries for more than 50 years and are
currently employed in Europe, Australia, and the United
populations, the developers only use
sterile eggs.
Opponents feel that transgenic salmon
threaten wild populations. Many point
out that if the genetically altered fish
were to escape from their pens, they
could outcompete native fish in the wild,
possibly driving them to extinction. Some
fear that a small percentage of the sterile
eggs might be reproductively active.
Transgenic salmon are just one of sev-
eral species of genetically altered fish
under development. About two dozen
varieties of genetically engineered fish or
shellfish are objects of intense research.
In most cases, genetic changes are aimed
at increasing growth and resistance to
disease. Abalone, oysters, striped bass,
rainbow trout, catfish, and tilapia are
some of the species being used in trans-
genic fish experiments and research.
Other genetically altered species include
Atlantic salmon into which have been
implanted a gene for cold tolerance, as
well as Atlantic salmon that were given a
gene from rainbow trout that enhances
disease tolerance. Transgenic striped bass
contain genes derived from insects that
improve their ability to resist disease, and
transgenic Indian carps have received a
human growth-hormone gene.
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 55

States. Suspended safely in the water, oysters grow twice as

fast as they do in the wild, and the meat is a better quality.
Abalones are gastropods, relatives of snails, which are eaten
as delicacies in California and Japan. In nature, populations
of abalones are small, so the price of each caught animal is
very high. Abalone farms primarily sell their wares to restau-
rants, where they get about $3 for each 3.15 inches (8.2 mm)
of animal. Young abalones are usually raised in tanks filled
with swirling seawater.
Salmon farming is done in coastal locations all around
the United States and Canada. The Atlantic salmon is raised
in 85 farms in British Columbia, producing 70,000 metric
tons of the fish in 2002. Salmon are carnivores, and on
farms they are fed brown pellets that contain 45 percent
fishmeal and 25 percent fish oil. In the United States,
salmon are very popular, and half the Canadian crop is
exported there.

Problems in Mariculture
Although mariculture offers some solutions to augmenting
the decreasing supplies of marine species, it is not a perfect
answer to the problems caused by overfishing. In many ways,
mariculture creates problems that are very similar to those it
was designed to solve.
Organisms raised in fish farms must be fed since they can-
not forage for their own food. Shrimp and salmon are carni-
vores, and those in captivity are fed wild caught fish that are
processed into fishmeal and fish oil. The quantity of fish
caught to sustain salmon and shrimp are almost triple the
amount of marketable shrimp and salmon produced. This
means that instead of becoming substitutes for fish caught in
the wild, farm-raised shrimp and salmon are actually the
cause of a substantial degree of fishing.
Pens that hold cultivated fish and shellfish accumulate large
volumes of feces, old food, and dead fish underneath them.
This nutrient-rich biomass adds to the amount of nitrogen and
phosphorus entering the ecosystem. Although the levels of
these nutrients from mariculture alone are not enough to
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cause eutrophication, nutrient loading is collective, and all

contributors make a difference. In an analysis of salmon farm-
ing in Nordic countries, researchers found that the amount of
nitrogen discharged equals the amount in sewage from a city
of 3.9 million people. In addition, pesticides and antibiotics
needed to maintain the health of the cultivated crop are also
discharged into the water.
Some mariculture operations are established at the expense
of essential natural habitats. In Thailand, for example, man-
grove forests are cut down to set up shrimp ponds. Normally
mangrove forests serve as nurseries for young fish and shell-
fish of many species. In addition, the roots of mangroves help
hold soil particles together and create habitats for a variety of
animals. Many mangrove forests develop near coral reefs, and
their presence protects the reefs from silt and sediment that
can smother coral animals. The loss of mangrove forests is
currently a serious environmental problem in Thailand.

Conclusion
At one time, fish were only consumed by inhabitants of
coastal regions, but today marine fisheries are international
companies. As the public learns about the health benefits of
eating fish, demand continues to grows. In some parts of the
world, fish populations are being overexploited to meet con-
sumer needs. Modern fishing technologies make it possible
for fishermen to harvest almost any species from the sea.
As technology improves, so does fishing equipment. Until
the mid-1990s, purse seine fishing efficiently captured tons of
targeted fish, along with an almost equal volume of bycatch.
To prevent the loss of so much sea life, purse seine nets have
been outlawed. The same is true of drift nets, which are
banned because they endanger the survival of marine turtles,
birds, and mammals. Longlines and traps are traditional fish-
ing techniques that produce less bycatch.
In many seas, like those off the coast of New England, sev-
eral species have been completely fished out. The entire food
chain of the region has been disrupted, and fish populations
may never come back to their former size. For example, the
 Fishing and the Mariculture Industry 57

George’s Bank cod population has been diminished by 77 per-

cent since 1978. When these and other stocks reach such
small numbers, there are not enough breeding adults left to
replenish the population.
Mariculture, raising fish, shellfish, and seaweed under con-
trolled conditions, is a technique that may supplement grow-
ing market demands without reducing supplies of marine
organisms. Currently, oysters, shrimp, and salmon are a few
of the species being cultivated. About one-third of all seafood
consumed today is a product of mariculture.
Mariculture presents its own ecological problems. Nitrogen
from feces and unused fish food enters coastal waterways and
contributes to eutrophication. Maricultured carnivores, like
shrimp and salmon, consume three times their weight in food
made from wild-caught fish. Although mariculture may well
have an important role in the future, the industry is still
young and in the process of solving critical problems.
As populations of humans rise, sustainable sources of
seafood will continue to be stretched. In many ways, maricul-
ture is offering hope to coastal communities where natural
fisheries are imperiled. Like other forms of agriculture, to be
successful mariculture must offer a safe product with minimal
environmental damage.
4
rHuman-Induced Ocean
and Climate Changes
he oceans and the atmosphere are closely coupled sys-
T tems, connecting with one another at the sea’s surface,
the interface between the two. Processes in the two global
regions are interdependent, so both natural and human-
induced changes in one system affect the other system.
Activities of humans are stressing these two systems and
interfering with several of their normal functions by changing
the Earth’s surface temperature, intensifying extreme weather
conditions, damaging fragile coral reef ecosystems, increasing
levels of dangerous radiation striking the Earth, and altering
normal patterns of cloud cover.
The ocean plays quite a few roles in the Earth’s climate. Just
like the atmosphere, the ocean is able to redistribute heat
around the globe. Because water has a greater capacity to store
heat than either air or land, the ocean can store the Sun’s radi-
ant heat and release it later, often in a different location. In the
middle of the day or during the summer months, when heat is
abundant, water absorbs it. When heat supplies are reduced, as
they are at night or in cold weather, water releases heat energy.
When water is heated by the Sun, not all the energy is
stored; some is used in evaporation. Evaporation, the process
in which a liquid changes to a gas, requires energy, so it cools
the air and the ocean’s surface. Evaporation leads to the for-
mation of clouds and rain, and it adds additional water vapor
to the layer of gases that warm the Earth. When water vapor
condenses, changes from a gas to a liquid, heat is released.
This heat is added to the system, so condensation warms air
and water. Heating the air through condensation provides
some of the thermal energy that is responsible for the move-
ment of air currents.
In addition to storing and redistributing heat, the ocean
plays roles in cycling life-supporting elements such as carbon,

58
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 59

nitrogen, and sulfur. Carbon dioxide enters the ocean in two

ways, by dissolving in the water and through uptake by phy-
toplankton, tiny, plantlike organisms that float near the
ocean’s surface. Populations of phytoplankton are extremely
large, making these organisms responsible for more photo-
synthesis than anything else on Earth. As they photosynthe-
size, phytoplankton convert carbon dioxide gas into
carbon-containing food molecules. Phytoplankton also inte-
grate nitrogen and sulfur into their cells, elements essential to
cell growth and development. When they die and decay, the
organisms release these elements into the environment.

Global Warming
One of the most serious man-induced changes in the Earth’s
weather system is an increase in surface temperature, a phe-
nomenon known as global warming. Over the past century,
the average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by
1.1°F (0.6°C). Global warming is caused by a number of
human activities in agriculture and industry.
The clearest culprit in global warming is burning fossil
fuels in vehicles and energy-generating power plants. The
gaseous products of fossil fuel combustion are causing a nor-
mally occurring layer of gases in the atmosphere, the green-
house gases, to thicken. Greenhouse gases include water
vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, and are able to absorb
heat and trap it near the surface of the Earth.
The greenhouse effect, detailed in Figure 4.1, is a process
that has been in operation for millions of years. Without the
greenhouse gases, the Earth’s surface would average a chilly
0.4°F (18°C) rather than the actual 59°F (15°C). As sunlight
passes through the mixture of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere,
several things happen. More than one-quarter (26 percent) of
the light hits the clouds and is reflected back into space. About
19 percent of the Sun’s light is absorbed by gases like ozone and
water vapor, as well as by particles in the air. The balance of
sunlight, 55 percent, makes it to the Earth’s surface, but 4 per-
cent of this is reflected back to space. The 51 percent that actu-
ally remains on the Earth warms the ground, water, and air.
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Fig. 4.1 Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse

gases in the atmosphere that traps heat close to
the surface of the Earth.
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 61

As the Earth warms, it begins to radiate heat energy away

from the surface and in the direction of space. Very little of
this energy actually reaches space because most of it is
trapped by the greenhouse gases. The gases absorb the heat
energy, become warmed by it, and then re-emit that heat
toward the Earth. The Earth’s surface is warmed once again,
absorbing the re-emitted heat from the greenhouse gases,
which it then radiates as more heat. The heat is continuously
cycled back and forth from the surface to the greenhouse
gases, keeping the Earth’s energy systems warm.
The amount of energy absorbed and reflected back to the
Earth by greenhouse gases is determined by the concentration
of those gases in the atmosphere. Over most of the Earth’s his-
tory, that concentration has remained stable, so the Earth’s
surface temperature has been stable. Since the beginning of
the Industrial Revolution (about A.D. 1700), human activities
have caused the concentration of greenhouses gases to grow
steadily. Before A.D. 1700, levels of carbon dioxide in the air
were about 280 parts per million (ppm), but today those lev-
els have soared to 360 ppm, an increase of 30 percent.
Methane, another greenhouse gas, is also rising in concen-
tration. Since 1750, methane levels have increased by 140
percent. Cultivated rice fields are a major source of methane
gas. More than 90 percent of the world’s rice is grown in Asia,
with 3.2 percent in Latin America, 2.1 percent in Africa, and
2.5 percent in the rest of the world. Because rice fields are
flooded with water, like natural wetlands, they harbor large
populations of methane-producing bacteria that live in the
waterlogged mud. Rice cultivation has climbed by a dramatic
50 percent since 1950. Other forms of cultivation, such as
raising domestic grazing animals, have also contributed to
increased levels of methane.
Scientists fear that these human-induced changes in surface
temperature caused by the greenhouse effect could have nega-
tive consequences on climate and oceans, resulting in prob-
lems such as more frequent occurrences of extreme weather.
To analyze and predict the possible outcomes of global warm-
ing, scientists create models of weather conditions and use
them to make projections about future conditions. Computers
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People and the Sea

interpret the data in the models and yield forecasts about just
how much the global temperatures will change in response to
increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. Most computer
predictions suggest that a doubling of the concentration of
greenhouse gases would raise global temperatures between 1.8°
and 5.4°F (1° and 3°C). To date, global temperatures have
already risen by 0.5° to 1.1°F (0.3° to 0.6°C).
Global warming has been occurring gradually over the past
century, but some of its negative consequences are just now
being realized. In the spring of 2004, the Scottish seabirds
failed to breed. This devastating change in seabird reproduc-
tive behavior was directly linked to alterations in the birds’
food web that were caused by global warming. Phytoplankton
are sensitive to water temperature, preferring cool waters to
warm ones. As seas have warmed, phytoplankton in some
areas have thinned or disappeared altogether. Off the coast of
Scotland, phytoplankton levels have been dropping over the
past decade. A tiny fish, the sandeel, is the primary food of
seabirds in the area. When sandeels first hatch from their
eggs, they feed on phytoplankton. Without any phytoplank-
ton to eat, baby sandeels died by the millions in the winter of
2003 and spring of 2004. As a result, seabirds had no food
and were too weak and hungry to breed. This event is a tragic
example of how global warming can collapse a food web from
the bottom up.
No one knows for sure what all the costs of global warming
might be, but scientists have some ideas. Sea levels are expect-
ed to rise, possibly as much as 3.3 feet (1 m) by 2100, due to
melting glaciers. With less sea ice covering the polar oceans,
the populations of phytoplankton may increase, causing
changes in air and water temperatures as well as alterations in
ocean circulation patterns. Increases in sea temperatures may
also lead to widespread destruction of coral reefs, which are
sensitive to changes in water temperature, and to changes in El
Niño, a weather disturbance in the Pacific Ocean.

Adverse Consequences of El Niño

The activities of humans that cause changes in the oceans and
the atmosphere can lead to modifications in typical patterns
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 63

of weather and climate. One of the most studied normal

weather phenomena is El Niño, an interruption in the usual
ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific Ocean. El
Niño is an extremely influential weather force that impacts
climate all over the globe. For this reason scientists study past
El Niños to determine what future weather and climate might
be like.
According to geological evidence, El Niño events have been
around for thousands of years, and their appearance every
two to seven years is natural. During an El Niño event, warm
water, with temperatures 32.9°F (0.5°C) above baseline lev-
els, appear off the coast of Peru and Ecuador, usually around
Christmas (leading to the name, El Niño, which means
“child,” in reference to the Christ child). Temperatures
become elevated, and remain that way for three months or
more, because the cooling trade winds that usually blow
across the tropical Pacific Ocean die down. An El Niño event
is detailed in the lower color photo on page C-5.
The increase in water temperature during El Niño aug-
ments the rate of evaporation at the sea’s surface, causing a
greater-than-normal amount of moisture and heat to rise from
the ocean. When this happens, air pressure over the region
fluctuates, a phenomenon known as the Southern Oscillation.
The entire event, the El Niño and the associated Southern
Oscillation that results from it, is referred to as the El
Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). ENSOs interfere with
the usual flow of air currents and have far-reaching meteoro-
logical consequences.
Global warming has impacted the severity and frequency of
ENSOs. To help predict ENSOs, thermometers and other
data-gathering equipment is deployed on buoys, shown in the
upper color insert on page C-6. Scientists have demonstrated
that increases in the Earth’s surface temperatures are responsi-
ble for ENSOs that produce unusually strong rainstorms and
frequent flooding in some parts of the world, while spawning
long, devastating droughts in other regions. The mechanisms
of ENSO at the surface of the ocean are well known, but sci-
entists are just beginning to understand some of their other
consequences.
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Because weather is closely tied to the ocean’s surface, the

effects of ENSOs in the deep oceans have always been
believed to be minimal. Henry Ruhl and others at Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, found evi-
dence to the contrary. Ruhl discovered that even deepwater
ecosystems are impacted by climatic changes. Observing life
as far down as 1,451.4 feet (4,100 m) below the water’s sur-
face, over a 14-year period, Ruhl and associates found that
severe ENSOs impact organisms on the deep seafloor.
Between these weather disturbances, Elpidia minutissima, a
sediment-colored sea cucumber, is one of the dominant forms
of animal life at these depths. Sea cucumbers are tube-shaped
relatives of sea stars that depend on organic matter that drifts
down from upper layers as their source of food. After the
powerful 1997–98 ENSO, levels of food increased and a dif-
ferent sea cucumber moved in, a white one called Scotoplanes
globosa, while Elpidia minutissima disappeared. Such studies
suggest that all regions of the sea may be more interconnected
than once believed, and that scientists have a lot to learn
about the extent of ENSOs influence.

Devastation to Coral Reefs

As some of the most productive ecosystems in the world,
coral reefs provide homes to millions of unique organisms.
The reefs, which serve as foundations for large, complex
ecosystems, are constructed from the skeletons of millions of
tiny coral animals. Each animal builds a calcium carbonate
skeleton around its body for protection.
Corals are carnivorous animals that catch prey with tenta-
cles armed with stinging cells. In the Tropics, however, most
species of coral depend on a close relationship with one-
celled green algae to support them nutritionally. Algae living
within the coral tissues manufacture food for themselves
through the process of photosynthesis. Some of their food
leaks out of the algal cells and into the coral’s tissues. Tropical
coral reefs are always found in clear, shallow water, where the
algae can receive good exposure to sunlight.
When water temperatures rise, the algae living within tis-
sues of corals abandon their hosts. The loss of algae means
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 65

that the corals are without their primary form of nutrition. If

water temperatures return to normal within a few days, most
corals can survive such a bleaching event. However, if tem-
peratures remain high for weeks or months at a time, the
coral animals die. Tropical oceans are influenced by heat pro-
duced by the greenhouse effect more so than other water bod-
ies. While the rest of the Earth’s surface has shown an average
temperature increase of 1.1°F (0.6°C), tropical oceans have
warmed 1.8°F (1°C).
Occasional coral bleaching is normal, and fishermen have
noticed small areas of bleached coral for thousands of years.
However, mass coral bleaching is a new event directly tied to
changes in El Niño that have resulted from global warming.
Some of the earliest cases of mass coral bleaching occurred in
1987 and 1990. These were followed by even worse bleaching
events in 1998 and 2002. In the last two cases, bleaching fol-
lowed El Niños, and damage was brutal. In 1998 water temper-
atures rose by 1.8°F (1°C), and reefs in 60 countries and island
nations were damaged. One of the hardest hit areas, the Indian
Ocean, reported more than 70 percent mortality of corals. In
2002 coral reefs in the South Pacific suffered the worst losses
ever when surface water temperatures increased by 3.6°F
(2°C). The Great Barrier Reef and other reef structures near the
coasts of Australia experienced extreme bleaching, some reefs
losing as much as 90 percent of their living coral.
The negative impacts of climatic changes on corals are aug-
mented by other environmental stresses, all of which result
from human activities. Global warming may be responsible
for an increased number of tropical storms, which can also
damage reefs by physically breaking them apart. In some
regions, global warming results in more-than-usual levels of
rainfall, a problem that augments the amount of sediment
that washes into water around reefs. Sediment makes the
water cloudy and reduces photosynthesis. In addition, the
abnormally high levels of greenhouse gases in the air alter the
acidity of marine waters. At the water’s surface, carbon diox-
ide gas dissolves in seawater to produce carbonic acid. As lev-
els of water acidity rise, the ability of corals to build calcium
carbonate skeletons is impaired, so the higher the acidity of
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People and the Sea

ocean water, the slower coral skeletons grow. Ocean water

pollution is another serious problem for coral reefs. As the
number of homes and businesses grow in regions bordering
coral reefs, so do levels of pollution. The addition of fertilizers
and sewage to waters near coral reefs increases the nutrient
load, encouraging the growth of algae that can shade and
smother the coral animals and their resident algae. All these
problems put reefs under stress, making them more suscepti-
ble to bleaching and its devastating effects.

Limits to the Marine Carbon Cycle

The ocean plays key roles in the natural global carbon system,
helping to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the air normally originates
from a variety of sources: Living things release the gas as a by-
product of respiration, volcanic eruptions discharge large vol-
umes of the gas, and the process of decomposition of organic
matter also produces it.
Even though carbon dioxide is generated by all these natu-
ral sources, the biggest producers of carbon dioxide are human
activities that involve burning wood or fossil fuels. Fuel com-
bustion provides as much as 65 percent of the atmospheric
load of carbon dioxide. Such high levels of this gas overwhelm
the ocean’s ability to regulate global carbon levels.
The ocean is part of the Earth’s system of checks and bal-
ances that helps keep atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide in
check. Three marine mechanisms are involved in carbon
removal: uptake by phytoplankton and other green organ-
isms, formation of animal shells, and incorporation into sedi-
ments. These three carbon-removing systems make the ocean
the biggest reservoir, or sink, of carbon in the world.
Phytoplankton have a tremendous impact on the levels of
carbon in the atmosphere and the ocean. Carbon dioxide in
the air diffuses into the seawater at the surface where phyto-
plankton take it up and use it to make food. In this way, phy-
toplankton are constantly removing carbon dioxide from the
air at the sea-air interface, preventing the gas from building
up in the atmosphere. When the tiny organisms die and sink
to the ocean floor, most decompose, releasing their carbon
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 67

into the deepwaters as carbon dioxide once again. The decay Fig. 4.2 Carbon is
of dead plants and animals maintains a very rich supply of circulated around the
carbon dioxide in deepwaters. The normal marine carbon Earth in a cycle. Carbon
cycle is illustrated in Figure 4.2. enters seawater from
Some types of sea life use carbon to build shells or skele- many sources, including
tons. Clams, oysters, and mussels are a few of the organisms the air, respiration by
living things, erosion of
that take in carbonate and bicarbonate compounds, which
carbon-containing rock,
contain carbon, and incorporate them into various types of and combustion of fossil
shells. When these organisms die, they also sink to the fuels. Carbon is removed
seafloor, taking their shells with them and removing the car- by processes such as
bon in those shells from global circulation. Corals use carbon photosynthesis, the
in a similar way to construct their external skeletons. When creation of limestone, and
corals die, their skeletons remain in place and provide homes storage in plants and
for other types of organisms. animals.
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After death, most of the soft body parts of living things

decompose. However, if the remains of organisms fall to the
bottom of a shallow-water sea, they may become incorporated
into sediments like limestone. Formation of limestone has a net
effect of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The
incorporation of carbon into limestone and other sediments is
a very slow process, and it is cyclic. The weathering of these
sediments releases carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere,
replenishing the supplies lost to photosynthetic organisms.
Despite this natural system of checks and balances, the
ocean cannot take in all of the excess carbon dioxide pro-
duced by humans by the combustion of fossil fuels. Some
researchers are looking into ways to expand the sea’s normal
carbon dioxide storage capacity, and two approaches are
under consideration. One is to enhance the productivity of
phytoplankton in selected parts of the ocean since green
organisms use carbon dioxide to create their food.
Phytoplankton on the ocean’s surface already absorb millions
of tons of carbon dioxide. Experiments show that fertilizing
the seas with supplements of iron could increase the rate of
phytoplankton growth, and so increase the rate at which car-
bon dioxide is taken up. When the organisms die, they sink to
the seafloor and take carbon with them.
The other idea is to store carbon dioxide in the deep ocean
in the form of compounds called hydrates, solid or semisolid
compounds that contain water molecules. To test the feasibili-
ty of this idea, researchers visited the deep seafloor and inject-
ed carbon dioxide into the water. Under the extreme pressure
of the deep sea, the gas reacted with seawater and formed a
hydrate, swelling into a ball of semisolid carbon dioxide. Deep
seas might prove to be useful places to store carbon dioxide
until it can be permanently disposed of in some other way.
Before either idea can be implemented, much research is
needed. Increasing phytoplankton will have other conse-
quences, so these must also be determined. The introduction
of hydrates to the deep sea will also have ramifications for the
deepwater environment. In both cases, long-term outcomes
must be analyzed and the advantages weighed against disad-
vantages before any type of action can be taken.
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 69

The Ozone Hole

Although levels of carbon dioxide are critically important
to the well-being of plankton, an entirely different man-
induced atmospheric crisis, one known as the ozone hole,
is also affecting their growth. Ozone is a gas that naturally
occurs at two locations on the Earth, the surface and the
upper atmosphere. Surface-level ozone, which represents
10 percent of the total Earth ozone, is a harmful pollutant
that is produced by cars, industries, refineries, and other
sources. More than 90 percent of the Earth’s ozone is locat-
ed in the upper regions of the atmosphere, where the gas
forms a layer that protects living things by filtering out
ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. The energy of UV
radiation damages cells and impairs their function. In
addition, UV radiation can cause cellular mutations,
changes in the DNA that can be harmful. In humans,
mutations caused by UV radiation are linked to cataracts
and skin cancer.
Over the last half a century, the layer of ozone has been
shrinking, damaged by man-made chemicals released into the
atmosphere. Ozone-depleting chemicals (ODCs), a group of
compounds that contain chlorine or bromine atoms, are used
as refrigerants, solvents, insulating foams, pesticides, and fire
extinguishers. All ODCs evaporate easily and, once airborne,
travel slowly to the upper atmosphere, making the journey
over a period of two to five years. When they arrive, UV radi-
ation breaks the molecules apart, releasing the destructive
chlorine and bromine atoms. Each chlorine atom that results
from the breakdown of an ODC such as chlorofluorocarbon
(CFC) sets off a cascade of chain reactions, resulting in the
destruction of thousands of molecules of ozone. Bromine
atoms are even worse, each one 40 times more destructive
than a chlorine atom. Through international treaties, the pro-
duction of ODCs in industrial nations has been phased out
and substitute chemicals are being produced. Scientists
believe that stopping the stream of ODCs entering the ozone
will enable the layer to repair damage, perhaps returning to its
original state by 2050.
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The area hardest hit by ozone depletion is the portion of

the atmosphere directly over Antarctica. Each spring the
amount of ozone over the southernmost continent decreases
by 50 percent, creating a region where the Sun’s UV radiation
can penetrate. Loss of ozone over the South Pole negatively
impacts phytoplankton, reducing the rate of photosynthesis
by 25 percent of previous levels. Antarctic phytoplankton
populations are 10,000 to 100,000 times denser than those in
tropical waters, so they are critically important to the world
as carbon sinks and as the foundations of food chains.
Damage to phytoplankton populations is harmful to the
entire planet.
Exposure of phytoplankton to UV radiation reduces photo-
synthesis in several ways. Phytoplankton orient themselves in
the water to maximize photosynthesis, using light, gravity,
and other factors as guides. In experiments, researchers found
that even moderately high doses of UV radiation damage the
ability of phytoplankton to position themselves optimally in
the water, thus reducing the amount of photosynthesis they
can carry out. UV radiation also destroys some of the proteins
that make up the photosynthetic equipment of cells. In addi-
tion, UV radiation interferes with photosynthesis by damag-
ing the planktonic organisms that are capable of fixing
nitrogen, a process in which they convert nitrogen from an
atmospheric gas to compounds that living things can use.
Since nitrogen is essential for photosynthesis, growth, and
development, a lack of the element can interfere with the pro-
ductivity of phytoplankton.
Reduction of photosynthesis in the Antarctic has far-reach-
ing effects. Phytoplankton serve as the basis for polar food
webs, and as such they are fed on by primary consumers such
as shrimp and the larvae of fish. Large fish and other second-
ary consumers depend on the primary consumers for their
food. In the same way, tertiary consumers, including fish,
birds, and mammals, feed on the secondary consumers. A
change in phytoplankton productivity directly affects innu-
merable food chains, including man’s food from the ocean. A
food chain that begins with phytoplankton and ends with
humans is shown in Figure 4.3.
Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 71

Fig.4.3 Phytoplankton (e),

oceanic primary producers, are
fed on by zooplankton (d),
which in turn serve as food for
small fish (c). Small fish are
eaten by large fish (b), an
important source of protein for
humans (a).
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In addition, phytoplankton take up carbon dioxide from

the atmosphere. The loss of just 5 percent of the world’s phy-
toplankton would prevent the uptake of five gigatons of car-
bon dioxide, an amount equivalent to the carbon dioxide
produced by worldwide combustion of fossil fuels in one
year. For this reason, loss of phytoplankton would signifi-
cantly worsen global warming and the consequences of it.

Consequences to the Sulfur Cycle

The functions of phytoplankton in the normal cycling of
nutrients are complex and diverse. Along with their jobs as
key absorbers of carbon, phytoplankton also play roles in the
sulfur cycle. Sulfur, like carbon, influences weather, and the
manner in which sulfur is cycled through the ocean-atmos-
phere system is linked to climate. Just as human activities are
altering the ocean’s role in the carbon cycle, they are also
interfering with its functions in the sulfur cycle.
Marine algae and phytoplankton naturally produce
dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), a compound that helps
protect the organisms from the negative impacts of stressors
like high salinity, strong doses of ultraviolet radiation, and
freezing temperatures. The death and decomposition of
marine algae and phytoplankton releases DMSP, which is
quickly converted into the gas dimethylsulfide (DMS). When
DMS enters the atmosphere at the sea-air interface, it is oxi-
dized into compounds of sulfur that form tiny particles in the
air. These particles act as seeds, or nuclei, for the condensa-
tion of water vapor, so they help form clouds. Because clouds
reflect the Sun’s energy back into space, they reduce the
amount of sunlight hitting the Earth and have a net cooling
effect. In this way, phytoplankton affect climate and are
linked to cooling that could be critical to offsetting the impact
of global warming.
The amount of DMS produced by phytoplankton is con-
trolled by a feedback mechanism, one that stimulates the pro-
duction of DMS when conditions are sunny and inhibits DMS
release when conditions are cloudy. The natural cycle begins
when phytoplankton in the ocean produce DMS, which leads
to an increase in cloudiness. Cloudiness in turn reduces the
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 73

amount of sunlight reaching the Earth, which lowers temper-

atures. Less sunlight also means that biological processes in
phytoplankton slow down, reducing the amount of DMS pro-
duced. When DMS production rates drop, the rate of cloud
formation also slows.
Because DMS production in phytoplankton is linked to the
amount of sunlight, more of the chemical is given off in the
summer than in the winter. In a similar way, DMS production

Food Chains and Photosynthesis

Living things must have energy to
survive. In an ecosystem, the path
that energy takes as it moves from
one organism to another is called a food
chain. The Sun is the major source of ener-
gy for most food chains. Organisms that
can capture the Sun’s energy are called
producers, or autotrophs, because they
are able to produce food molecules.
Living things that cannot capture energy
must eat food and are referred to as con-
sumers, or heterotrophs. Heterotrophs
that eat plants are herbivores, and those
that eat animals are carnivores. Organisms
that eat plants and animals are described
as omnivores.
When living things die, another group
of organisms in the food chain—the
decomposers, or detritivores—uses the
energy tied up in the lifeless bodies.
Detritivores break down dead or decay-
ing matter, returning the nutrients to the
environment. Nutrients in ecosystems
are constantly recycled through inter-
locking food chains called food webs.
Energy, on the other hand, cannot be
recycled. It is eventually lost to the sys-
tem in the form of heat.
Autotrophs can capture the Sun’s
energy because they contain the green
pigment chlorophyll. During photo-
synthesis, autotrophs use the Sun’s
energy to rearrange the carbon atoms
from carbon dioxide gas to form glu-
cose molecules. Glucose is the primary
food or energy source for living things.
The hydrogen and oxygen atoms
needed to form glucose come from
molecules of water. Producers give off
the extra oxygen atoms that are gen-
erated during photosynthesis as oxy-
gen gas.
Autotrophs usually make more glu-
cose than they need, so they store some
for later use. Heterotrophs consume this
stored glucose to support their own life
processes. In the long run, it is an ecosys-
tem’s productivity that determines the
types and numbers of organisms that can
live there.
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also increases when UV radiation is high and when ozone lev-

els are low. For this reason, loss of ozone around Antarctica
due to the production of ozone-depleting chemicals means an
increase of UV radiation on the phytoplankton, with a subse-
quent increase in DMS production and cloud formation.
Scientists do not yet know all the consequences of this change
in the normal cycle of sulfur but suspect they will influence
the Earth’s surface temperature.

Finding Solutions
To avoid future damage to the ocean-atmosphere link in cli-
mate and weather, scientists must first understand exactly
how the systems work and where they are most vulnerable.
Such understanding comes from observation, research, exper-
imentation, and sharing information among researchers of
different disciplines. Traditionally, most ocean research has
been done from aboard ships and from monitoring stations
along the shore. Nets, grabs, and dredges were used to catch,
pick up, and scoop samples of marine life. One of the biggest
advances in marine research came with the development on
submersibles that could be used by scientists to study the
underwater environment.
Submersibles, small underwater research vessels, and
remotely controlled unmanned subs have enabled scientists
to see parts of the ocean that have never been viewed by
humans. In 1960 the submersible Trieste took a team of Swiss
and American scientists on the deepest manned dive into the
Marianna Trench. The submersible Alvin carried Americans
back to the deep seafloor, and by 1977 scientists had discov-
ered the unique communities of organisms that live around
deepwater hydrothermal vents. Alvin, shown in the lower
color insert on page C-6, is still in use, operated by the Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Over the
past 40 years of operation, the small sub has been modified to
accommodate a pilot and two scientists. Scientists from the
National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Navy are petition-
ing for updated, modern vehicles that can carry more scien-
tists, dive deeper, and stay under water longer.
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 75

A lot that is known about marine environments comes

from analysis of data gathered over long periods of time. At
this time, a global data-collecting system for studying oceans
and atmosphere does not exist, although there are more than
40 independent, local systems and hundreds of smaller, spe-
cialized data-gathering structures scattered throughout the
world. One such local system is the Southeast Atlantic Coast
Ocean Observing System, SEACOOS. Like many other local
systems, SEACOOS works closely with neighboring marine
organizations to gather data from a variety of sources. All this
information is analyzed to develop a picture of the weather
and environmental conditions on the eastern coast of the
United States. Many of the key monitoring stations for SEA-
COOS are located on structures on the inner continental shelf
that were built by the navy to keep track of fighter jets for
training purposes. Every six minutes, more than 15 instru-
ments mounted on these structures measure factors such as
air and water temperature, barometric pressure, and wind
direction. At the same time, underwater cameras provide fish-
ery biologists with pictures of fish, enabling them to study
their patterns of migration.
Beginning in 2005 more than 50 nations, including the
United States, will participate in a new project, the Global
Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). The goal of
GEOSS is to gather and integrate information on coastal and
marine environments around the world. By doing so, the sys-
tem can help scientists understand natural oceanic events, as
well as the impact of humans on oceans. The project, which is
scheduled to last 10 years, will gather data from hundreds of
sources, including satellites, ground-based weather stations,
ocean platforms, moored and free-floating data-gathering
buoys, and aircraft. Data can be beamed ashore in real time to
provide scientists with up-to-the-minute information about
weather conditions, air pollution, water temperature, ground
tremors, and other statistics. Using data from GEOSS, scien-
tists can improve weather forecasting, making it possible to
predict storms with greater reliability. GEOSS will also help
those scientists who are working to restore the health of
coastal ecosystems and monitor ocean resources. Once in
place, GEOSS can provide warnings of seismic events, such as
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the earthquake of December 26, 2004, off the west coast of

northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Registering 9.0 on the Richter
scale, the quake set off a devastating seismic wave, or tsuna-
mi, that claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people along
the coastlines of the Indian Ocean.
Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) have a system similar to the planned
GEOSS in place around the Pacific Ocean. This Tsunami
Warning System (TWS) is made up of 26 member states.
From its center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, scientists can monitor
seismic activity in the Pacific Basin as well as along the coasts
of Alaska and the western United States. The Pacific Basin
system did not detect the Indian Ocean tsunami because there
were no monitors in that region.

Conclusion
One of the most widely studied weather phenomena is El
Niño, a disruption in the seasonal events in the Pacific Ocean
that lead to periods of warmer-than-normal seawater.
Although El Niño has occurred for thousands of years, its
effects have worsened in the last century due to an increase in
sea surface temperatures. In the last two decades, El Niño
may have been responsible for extreme weather conditions
such as storms and exceptionally heavy rains on one side of
the globe, and drought and famine on the other.
The global warming crisis that has strengthened El Niño is a
result of human activities that involve the combustion of fossil
fuels. Burning puts carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, load-
ing it with a greater volume of the gas than the ocean-atmos-
phere system is designed to handle. As a result, carbon dioxide
thickens the layer of greenhouse gases that cover the Earth,
causing them to retain more than the usual amount of heat.
Besides augmenting the powers of El Niño, increasing surface
temperatures have such far-reaching effects as disrupting food
chains, raising sea levels, and damaging coral reefs.
Tropical coral reefs are extremely sensitive to changes in
water temperature, so global warming can be devastating to
them. When waters warm, the green unicellular algae that
 Human-Induced Ocean and Climate Changes 77

live in and among coral tissues and support them nutritionally

leave their hosts and take up a free-living lifestyle. Loss of algae
causes the corals to lose their primary source of food, a condi-
tion that can be fatal if it lasts for several weeks. Because the
algae are responsible for providing corals with their character-
istic bright colors, such events are referred to as bleachings.
Phytoplankton help reduce global warming by removing
carbon from the atmosphere. Carbon that is incorporated into
living things is cycled through the ocean-atmosphere system
either as dissolved gas in the water of the seafloor, as the
shells of animals like clams, or in sediments such as lime-
stone. Scientists are examining some options for storing
excess atmospheric carbon dioxide on the seafloor.
In Antarctica, decreased levels of ozone gas in the upper
atmosphere may be responsible for a 25 percent drop in a
phytoplankton production. Ozone protects the Earth’s inhab-
itants from dangerous levels of UV radiation, which can dam-
age photosynthetic machinery and cause cellular mutations.
The production of ozone-depleting chemicals is responsible
for the loss of atmospheric ozone. Changes in normal phyto-
plankton populations, whether through global warming or
loss of ozone, have far-reaching climatic consequences.
To better understand how the ocean and climate are relat-
ed, more than 50 nations are participating in a data-sharing
project called GEOSS. Information gathered from this net-
work will help predict weather and climate conditions. The
reasons for predicting future weather conditions are varied
and cover a wide range of needs. Improved weather predic-
tion could help protect people and property in potentially
dangerous zones, adjust agricultural activities to avoid devas-
tating weather events, protect marine environments from
weather-related damage, and minimize the outbreak of dis-
eases related to weather changes.
5

rEndangered Marine Life

ife on Earth shows immense diversity in form, so
L much so that only a fraction of the organisms living
today are known to scientists. With environmental changes
taking places at an ever-increasing pace, many species will
never be known because they will become extinct before
humans can discover them. Scientists have been aware of this
problem for decades in the tropical rain forests but are just
now recognizing the speed at which unknown marine life is
disappearing.
Humans dominate the Earth and have expanded to inhabit
most of the terrestrial environments, taking over or damaging
the living space of other organisms. There is a direct correla-
tion between the rising human population and rising rate of
extinction. Since humans are terrestrial organisms, one might
think their influence would end at the edges of continents, but
this is not so. The pressure of people is felt far past their living
quarters, spilling over into the enormous world of the sea.
The living space in the sea is vast, hundreds of times larger
than the total living space on land. The three-dimensional
quality of sea life provides habitats from top to bottom as well
as from shore to shore. To humans, most of these habitats are
unknown, and hidden within their depths are organisms that
no one has ever seen.
People are more aware of the existence of threatened organ-
isms on land than they are in the sea. Of the marine species,
many people know that large mammals, like whales and seals,
are in danger of extinction. In reality, the numbers of small,
rarely noticed types of marine life, which make up the major-
ity of species, are in as much danger as any. To bring public
attention to all the organisms in danger of disappearing, many
nations have established designations such as vulnerable,

78
 Endangered Marine Life 79

threatened, and endangered, signifying different levels of risk.

Such labels bring national and international attention to the
plight of these organisms, along with protection from hunt-
ing, fishing, and further loss of habitat.

Loss of Diversity
When a species becomes extinct, it is lost to the Earth. Loss of
species leads to reduction of biological diversity, or biodiversity.
The oceans have always been rich in biodiversity, containing
more major groups of organisms than terrestrial environments.
Of the 55 major groups, or phyla, of living things, more than 80
percent include species that live in the ocean, compared to 50
percent with species that live on the land. Some of these phyla
contain thousands of different species.
The causes of loss of species diversity are many. Overfishing
and bycatch, hunting, toxic chemicals, nutrient enrichment of
waters, loss of habitat, alien species, and increased ultraviolet
radiation due to loss of the ozone layer are some of the major
causes. Scientists predict that in the future, changes in global
climate will account for the majority of species loss. Since all
Earth’s inhabitants are connected and dependent on one
another for survival, removal of one species sets off a chain
reaction of events that impacts all others.
Loss of species diversity is just one way that a group of
organisms can lose its variety. Diversity can also vanish on the
genetic level and on the ecosystem level. Genetic diversity
refers to the number of genetic building blocks that can be
found among individuals in a species. The more genetic
building blocks there are, the greater the level of variation in
the genes of a group of organisms. Genes are made up of mol-
ecules of DNA, and they carry information that can be passed
from one generation to the next. A group that has a lot of
genetic diversity is better able to adapt to their ever-changing
environment than one with little diversity. In this way, genet-
ic variation gives population resilience in the face of a chang-
ing world. Populations that lose genetic variation become
more fragile and subject to collapse. At a time when there is
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so much environmental change due to human activities, loss

of genetic diversity in a population puts the entire group at
risk because it reduces their ability to adapt to further
changes in the environment.
Genetic diversity matters on many levels. A large, healthy
population of individuals contains a lot of different genes,
which can mix in endless new combinations to create variety
among offspring. When a species dwindles down to just a
small pool of organisms, these few individuals have only a
limited amount of genetic information, and therefore only a
few combinations are possible in successive generations.
Small populations of species that are saved from extinction
are never as healthy or adaptable as they would have been had
they never faced extinction in the first place; they simply lack
the genetic variability of the original group.
The genetic makeup of each group affects the entire ecosys-
tem, the environment and all the other living inhabitants in that
environment. A change that diminishes genetic makeup also
generates ecosystem-level damage. At this time, scientists are
not able to predict the long-term consequences of reduced
genetic diversity on an ecosystem. Therefore, they do not know
with certainty how destruction of marine habitats will affect the
future of the oceans. Experience to date suggests it is dangerous
to depend on populations with limited pools of genes to carry
out all the functions needed for species survival, including pass-
ing on genes, coping with disease, and dealing with change.
A highly diverse ecosystem is home to a variety of species
and supports a number of ecological processes. Examples of
ecosystems in the ocean include sandy beaches, coral reefs, sea
grass beds, and hydrothermal vents. All three types of diversity,
species, genetic, and ecosystem, are important and intercon-
nected, and must be preserved with each of these ecosystems.

Humans Cause Endangerment

The continued existence of some marine species is threatened
by multiple factors, most of which are the direct result of
human activities. Top among these is overexploitation, which
includes overfishing and overhunting. Overfishing and the
 Endangered Marine Life 81

resulting large bycatches have put enormous pressures on fish

populations. A new category of species depletion, commercial
extinction, has been introduced to describe fish and shellfish
whose populations are reduced so dramatically that fisher-
men cannot capture them in quantities that are economically
feasible. Although not truly extinct, the populations of these
animals are so small that they no longer play their traditional
roles in ecosystems. Some of the marine organisms that have
suffered from overexploitation include fish, shellfish, and
marine mammals.
Nutrient-loaded waters and those carrying other kinds of
pollutants cause stress to many organisms and depress the
sizes of their populations. In these situations, species that are
able to tolerate pollutants thrive and dominate the communi-
ties, changing the roles of all organisms in those ecosystems.
These changes may lead to an even greater loss of species than
the pollutants themselves.
Habitat destruction is a substantial problem for many
species, especially in coastal regions such as estuaries and
wetlands. The construction of homes and businesses, along
with tourism and mariculture, destroys the integrity of the
coastline and changes the natural ecosystems there. In many
coastal regions, piers, docks, and marinas are erected, while
in other places sea walls and jetties are built to redirect the
natural distribution of sand. All these structures take valuable
habitats out of the ecosystem.
The introduction of nonnative, or alien, species has had
dire outcomes for some ecosystems. Nonnative organisms can
be introduced into an ecosystem purposefully, as a new breed
of fish that might be expected to boost local fishing, or acci-
dentally, like a clam that clings to the hull of an international
ship. Foreign organisms may cause no problems in local
ecosystems, but sometimes they upset the ecological balance,
causing the decline of native species.

Endangered Species Act

In 1962 the American biologist Rachel Carson (1907–64)
published The Silent Spring, a book that brought to light the
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dangers of pesticides and other chemicals in the environment.

Carson and other leaders in environmental education helped
the public learn to appreciate the natural world. With increased
awareness came the understanding that the ocean is an essen-
tial Earth ecosystem, not simply a resource, and interest in
ocean organisms grew. In the United States, the first major leg-
islation to protect living things was the Endangered Species
Preservation Act of 1966. Although this legislation represented
a step in the right direction, it only provided protection for
native species.
In 1969 the Endangered Species Conservation Act was
written to fill in some of the gaps in the Endangered Species
Preservation Act. This second plan provided protection to
species in danger of worldwide extinction. Significantly, the
act also called for an international meeting to adopt conserva-
tion guides to protect species around the world. In 1972 the
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) was developed by
Congress to specifically safeguard and manage marine mam-
mals and their products, such as hides and meat.
On an international level, the World Conservation Union, a
group of scientists and nongovernmental and governmental
organizations formed in 1948, put out a resolution in 1963 to
develop a worldwide program of animal and plant protection.
After 10 years of drafts and negotiations among all the member
nation-states, a treaty was finally proposed. In 1973, 150 nation-
states signed the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The pur-
pose of CITES is to regulate wildlife trade in plants and animals.
The strongest environmental law to date in the United
States is the Endangered Species Act of 1973, which was writ-
ten and ratified by the Congress to stop the extinction of
species throughout their range. The act found that a number
of species had already been rendered extinct due to practices
in response to economic growth and that other species were
so depleted in numbers that they were in danger of extinc-
tion. The act provided a means by which threatened species
could be preserved.
The Endangered Species Act requires that species be judged
“endangered” or “threatened” by several factors, including
 Endangered Marine Life 83

the changes in their habitats, overexploitation, disease, preda-

tion, and any other man-made factors that could threaten its
existence. An “endangered” organism is one that is in danger
of extinction throughout all, or most, of its range. A “threat-
ened” species is one that is likely to become endangered in
the near future.

Endangered Marine Plants and Invertebrates

Marine plants form the basis of oceanic food chains because
they are capable of using the Sun’s energy to make food.
Despite their importance, several kinds of marine plants are
facing serious threats because of human activities. For exam-
ple, a shallow-water marine plant, Johnson’s sea grass, is con-
sidered to be threatened throughout its range around
southeastern Florida. Although most sea grasses are able to
reproduce both sexually and asexually, this species is limited
to asexual reproduction. In order for its rhizomes to spread,
the grass needs a stable substrate on which it can grow. Some
of the biggest human threats to the continued existence and
recovery of Johnson’s sea grass include damage by boat props,
disturbance by boat anchors, dredging, storm action, silta-
tion, and reduced water quality due to the influx of pollu-
tants. Activities that unearth plants and destroy their root
systems also sever the rhizomes and reduce their rates of
reproduction.
All sea grasses rely on clear waters to provide plenty of sun-
light for photosynthesis. Siltation caused by human distur-
bances increases the turbidity of water and reduces
photosynthesis. Eutrophication, which stimulates the growth
of algae in water, is also responsible for shading, and some-
times even smothering, beds of Johnson’s sea grass. Algal
blooms smother the grasses by reducing the oxygen content
of water.
Invertebrates, animals that lack backbones, represent most
of the animal life on Earth. Varying in size, shape, lifestyle, and
habitat, invertebrates are found in all parts of the marine envi-
ronment. One type of invertebrate, the tiny coral, is responsi-
ble for reef building in tropical waters. Corals are in trouble all
over the world, suffering huge losses due to pollution, disease,
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People and the Sea

coral bleaching, as well as damage by humans who drop boat

anchors on them.
Around the Florida Keys and in the Caribbean, pillar
corals, shown in the upper color insert on page C-7, grow up
to 12 inches (30 cm) tall. Looking very much like the round-
ed knees of cypress trees, pillar coral are endangered and rare.
Most corals feed at night, but this species extends its hairy-
looking tentacles into the water during the day to catch debris
and small animals. Overgrowth of algae due to the addition of
nutrients to water (especially in the form of sewage affluence
and fertilizer) and damage from boats and anchors put these
animals on the endangered list.
Two of the primary reef-building corals, elkhorn and
staghorn coral, are currently being evaluated as organisms
that may need to be placed on the endangered species list. At
one time both elkhorn and staghorn corals were widespread,
often the most common corals seen in reefs. Since 1970 their
populations have declined drastically, varying from 80 to 98
percent loss, depending on location. Areas that were once
dense thickets of coral in the 1970s are now flattened and
barren of coral.
Two types of abalones, or marine snails, are listed as endan-
gered. Both the white abalone and the black abalone have
been damaged by overfishing practices such as dredging and
trawling. By many estimates, these organisms may be com-
pletely gone by 2010. Scientists are assembling a captive
breeding stock in hopes of helping the populations recover.

Endangered Fish
Populations of fish are facing increasing pressures from over-
fishing, pollution, and loss of habitat. One endangered fish is
the leafy sea dragon, an unusual relative of sea horses and a
native of the coastal waters of southern Australia. Leafy sea
dragons are covered in appendages that give them the appear-
ance of leaves or blades of grass, so they live perfectly camou-
flaged in sea grass beds. In Australia, as in most of the world, the
habitats of these small fish are suffering damage from an influx
of water pollutants, primarily nutrients. In addition, leafy sea
dragons are the objects of many unscrupulous collectors who
 Endangered Marine Life 85

sell them as ingredients in “Eastern” medicines, or as aquari-

um specimens. These delicate fish require exact conditions of
temperature and salinity, and most die shortly after capture.
Sea dragons are protected by Australian law because the
demand for them has threatened the species with extinction.
In the United States, several types of anadromous fish are
endangered, including sturgeons and salmon. Anadromous
fish are not full-time saltwater residents; they are born in
freshwater streams and then swim to saltwater environments
as young fish and remain there for most of their lives. As
adults, these fish swim back up the streams of their birth Fig. 5.1 Sturgeons, such
when it is time to breed. as the common sturgeon
Sturgeons, shown in Figure 5.1, are primitive fish with and the short-nosed
elongated bodies that are covered with five rows of bony sturgeon, are covered
plates or scutes. Most live a long time, reaching ages of 60 with bony plates.
years or more. All sturgeons have cartilaginous skeletons, dis- (Courtesy of Historic MNFS
tinctive, tubelike mouths, and fleshy barbels, or sensory Collection, NOAA)
86
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People and the Sea

organs, on their snouts. These fish are bottom feeders that

root around in sediment for food.
Several species of sturgeons are listed as endangered,
including the shortnose sturgeon, pallid sturgeon, and white
sturgeon. The shortnose sturgeon, which has been considered
endangered since 1967, is not a target of the fishing industry.
Instead, its populations have declined dramatically since the
1950s because these fish are often part of the bycatch of com-
mercial fishermen. In addition, man-made changes in the
habitats of shortnose sturgeons have reduced their spawning
and nursery sites.
Populations of endangered sturgeons in the waters of the
Florida panhandle may provide Florida some leverage in its
ongoing water war with Georgia. Currently, Georgia has sev-
eral dams along the Chattahoochee River that provide water
to Atlanta and other cities. Florida contends that water in the
Chattahoochee should flow unimpeded to the Gulf, assuring
that sturgeon spawning sites and nurseries remain intact. The
Endangered Species Act may tip the scale in the favor of
Florida in settling this long-fought argument.
The numbers of salmon living in natural populations are
extremely low, and their demise is due to several problems.
Fishing pressure has reduced the stock of reproducing adults
and decimated the genetic variability of salmon. Ozone deple-
tion from the use of ozone-damaging chemicals is constantly
damaging the standing stock of phytoplankton, which impacts
their food supplies. Salmon require clear, fast-moving, highly
oxygenated water in the streams when they return to breed.
Pesticides poison their streams, and polluting nutrients fill
those streams with algae, clouding them and sharply limiting
the amount of suitable nesting sites.
At one time, some of the world’s largest populations of
salmon could be found in the Columbia and Snake Rivers of
the northwestern United States. Now, only small groups of 12
different species, all threatened and endangered, live there.
The decline in these particular salmon populations is largely
due to the presence of dams in spawning rivers. Dams physi-
cally interfere with salmons’ ability to return to the streams of
their birth for spawning. In addition, power plants associated
 Endangered Marine Life 87

with dams generate warm water. During summer months,

waters in the Snake River can exceed 68°F (20°C) and prove
lethal to adult salmon.
Other widespread problems in the area include lowland
agricultural practices that divert and pollute streams, as well
as poor management of riparian regions, areas that border
creeks and rivers. When streams are not protected by zones of
natural vegetation, runoff from farms, industries, and homes
flows into the stream waters and degrades their quality. Since
1991, 26 species of salmon have been listed as endangered.
Fish that spend their entire lives in the sea are also in trou-
ble. Populations of several oceanic species, such as cod, had-
dock, and whiting, are dropping fast. Scientists from around
the world are warning that in the North Sea, these species are
close to collapse. In the Tropics, the Warsaw grouper is suf-
fering a similar plight. A resident of deep, cold-water reefs,
the grouper has been drastically overfished, and its popula-
tions are extremely low.
Several species of sharks are designated as vulnerable or
endangered. Most threatened sharks are victims of bycatch
rather than targets of fisheries, but a few species are being
purposefully pursued. The increasing popularity of foods
such as fish-and-chips, often sold under the name of “rock
salmon,” and shark-fin soup, an Asian delicacy, are hurting
their populations. Like other fish that exist at the top of the
food chain, sharks have always enjoyed predator-free envi-
ronments. In the past most of these animals lived long lives,
during which they experienced dozens of reproductive years.
For this reason their reproductive strategies are slow, very
much like those of mammals. Sharks reach sexual maturity
late in life and produce only a few offspring. This type of
reproductive strategy makes it very hard for damaged popula-
tions to recover. Some scientists predict that sharks will be
the first species of fish to become extinct.
One of the most docile species is the gray nurse shark,
which is now critically endangered along the coast of
Australia and in other parts of the world. Although not
known to attack humans, just a few decades ago these slow-
moving fish eaters were mistakenly viewed as threats, and
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People and the Sea

they were almost hunted to extinction. In the 1970s spear-

hunting gray nurse sharks was a popular sport. Officials
believe that only 300 to 500 grey nurse sharks are left in
Australian waters. Populations in other parts of the world are
not as well known.
The great white shark, portrayed as a vicious killer in films
and novels, is declining rapidly, and in Australian waters it is
listed as a vulnerable species. Great whites are part of the
bycatch of longliners and net fishermen, who accidentally
snare and kill between 100 and 440 each year. The black-mar-
ket trade in shark products, such as jaws, teeth, and fins, is
also significant. Shark fins, which are dried and sold as the
chief ingredient in shark fin soup, bring more profit for the
unscrupulous fisherman than the rest of the shark’s body. For
this reason, poachers often cut off the fins of a shark and
throw the rest of the animal back in the ocean.
Basking sharks and whale sharks, the two largest species of
fish in the world, are endangered and receive protection in
U.S. waters as well as in those of many other countries. These
two species are the only fish recognized as endangered by
CITES. Unlike most other kinds of sharks, the whale and
basking sharks are filter feeders that depend on plankton for
food. Basking sharks can grow to 32.8 feet (10 m) long, and
whale sharks as long as 65.6 feet (20 m). Both groups are tar-
gets of finning because poachers can sell their 6.6-foot (2 m)-
long fins for as much as $15,000 each.
Smalltooth sawfish are relatives of sharks and rays. Named
for their long, flat, sawlike snouts that are edged in teeth,
smalltooth sawfish use these appendages to locate, stun, and
kill prey such as fish and crustaceans. On the average, small-
tooth sawfish reach about 18 feet (5.5 m) in length and can
live about 30 years. At one time they ranged from the Gulf of
Mexico to the coast of North Carolina, flourishing in shallow
coastal waters and estuaries as well as freshwater lakes,
ponds, rivers and streams. With populations reduced by
about 99 percent, the fish are limited to the Florida Keys and
Everglades National Park. Smalltooth sawfish are extremely
vulnerable to entanglement in nets, longlines, and trawls, so
they are frequently the victims of bycatch. In addition, the
 Endangered Marine Life 89

ecosystems where they live, nearshore environments, are

some of the hardest hit by pollutants. Like other sharks, they
have very slow growth and reproductive rates.

Endangered Reptiles
No other group of animals is more at risk of extinction that
the sea turtles, large marine reptiles whose bodies are highly
modified for life in the ocean. In the past overhunting severe-
ly depleted their populations. Today the few surviving turtles
must contend with less direct, yet just as lethal, pressures
from humans such as water pollution, fishing, and habitat
destruction.
All species of sea turtles are either classified as endangered
or threatened: the green sea turtle, hawksbill turtle, Kemp’s
ridley turtle, leatherback turtle, loggerhead turtle, and Olive
ridley turtle. As a group, these animals face threats during all
phases of their lives that are both natural and human-caused.
The eggs are threatened by predators like raccoons and crabs
that dig into nests to feed. Hatchlings scramble across wide
expanses of sand, dodging seabirds on the sand and fish in the
water. Only as adults are sea turtles free of predation, except
for encounters with sharks. Scientists estimate that only one
of as many as 10,000 hatchlings ever reaches maturity.
All these natural threats, which are serious obstacles to
reaching maturity, pale in comparison to threats caused by
humans. In some cultures, people slaughter adult turtles for
meat, even though the acts are illegal in most countries. The
shells are sought for making jewelry, especially the beautiful
brown and gold-toned shells of hawksbill turtles. Commercial
fishing kills thousands of turtles each year when the animals
become tangled in fish nets and drown. At one time, shrimp
nets were the cause of death to 55,000 sea turtles a year off
the coasts of the southeastern United States alone. Today
shrimp trawlers are required to put turtle excluder devices
(TEDs) in their trawl nets. A TED, shown in the lower color
insert on page C-7, is made of a grid of bars and nets that has
an opening at either the top or bottom. The grid fits into the
neck of a shrimp trawl net. Large animals like turtles and
sharks are ejected through the opening.
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People and the Sea

Trash in the ocean, especially plastic, is deadly to turtles.

Each year, thousands die when they mistake objects like plas-
tic bags, balloons, and Styrofoam cups for jellyfish, their pri-
mary food. Plastic blocks their digestives systems, causing the
reptiles to starve to death. In addition, changes to coastlines
have had tremendous impacts on turtles, which need quiet,
sandy beaches for nesting. Beaches are lined with homes,
hotels, and businesses, and they are protected by seawalls and
sandbags, all of which confuse and block the females at nest-
ing time. Sand that is pumped onto beaches from other sites
to augment beach size is often tightly packed and unsuitable
for nests. Outdoor floodlights and bright streetlights may pre-
vent females from climbing onto the beach, or disorient the
hatchlings when they make their runs for the water. Water
pollution is contributing to an increase in fibropapillomas, a
disease that kills turtles. Other pollutants are toxic to marine
algae, one of their important sources of food.

Endangered Birds
Like all other sea animals, birds are exposed to risks created
by humans, such as pollution, overhunting, and loss of habi-
tat. Because seabirds mature slowly, and pairs generally lay
only one egg a year, their reproductive rates are very low. As a
result, even after endangering activities stop, populations of
the animals recover slowly. For this reason, several species of
seabirds are endangered.
All the 21 species of albatross are facing problems, and six
species are listed as endangered. Longline fishing creates
trouble for albatrosses, causing the small populations to con-
tinue to wane. Always on the lookout for food, the birds spot
the baited hooks just as longline fishermen throw them over-
board. The albatross dive for the food on the hooks, get the
hooks caught in their throats, and are pulled underwater by
weighted lines, causing them to drown. In addition, albatross
consume a lot of plastic trash floating in the ocean. They are
especially attracted to red plastic, which the birds may mis-
take for shrimp. Plastic can clog their digestive tracts and
cause starvation.
At one time there were millions of short-tail albatross in the
North Pacific Ocean, but today populations are down to
 Endangered Marine Life 91

about 1,200 individuals. At the beginning of the 20th century,

populations were reduced to extremely small numbers by
overhunting of the birds in their primary breeding grounds in
Japan. Building their nest on the ground made them vulnera-
ble to hunters, and thousands of animals were killed for their
feathers and other body parts. Today habitat destruction has
greatly reduced their breeding areas, making it more difficult
for the remaining birds to find suitable nesting areas.
Overhunting was also the death knell for piping plovers, a
group of small seabirds that was driven to near extinction at
the turn of the century when they were killed for meat.
Protective measures saved several core populations and per-
mitted their global populations to grow until the mid-1940s.
After that time, the birds’ numbers dropped again due to
widespread destruction of their preferred habitats. Today
there are only about 800 breeding pairs, with 200 building
their nests in New York.
Newell’s shearwater, a bird that was once abundant on the
Hawaiian Islands, was in danger of extinction as early as the
1930s. Today these birds can only be found nesting in a small
mountainous area. The human introduction of predators to
the Hawaiian Islands, animals such as mongoose and black
rats, made the ground-nesting birds vulnerable to attack. In
addition, the shearwaters are attracted to light, which they
use as a navigational tool. Hatchlings were often confused by
urban lights, sometimes suffering night blindness, which
causes them to fly into poles and buildings.
The brown pelican is a large coastal bird that dives for fish.
Brown pelicans range from South America to North America,
where they are more often seen on the southeastern coast and
in the Gulf of Mexico. Populations were decimated during the
1950s and 1960s when DDT and other pesticides were widely
sprayed to get rid of mosquitoes and crop insects. Even
though DDT is banned, the birds are still threatened by other
pesticides, loss of nesting sites, entanglement in fishing gear,
and loss of habitat. In the upper color insert on page C-8, a
volunteer helps rescue a brown pelican from such debris.
Brown pelicans often make their homes in areas that humans
choose for recreational sites, and the noise of motor boats
may be upsetting their reproductive success.
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Endangered Mammals
Since Neolithic times, humans have hunted marine mammals
for their fur, meat, and blubber. The pursuit of seals, walrus-
es, sea lions, and otters began with the earliest hunters and
lasted well into the 20th century’s era of commercial hunting
organizations. Other mammals, such as manatees, dugongs,
and dolphins, have also been the targets of hunting in cul-
tures where these animals occur.
Cetaceans, or whales, are a group that includes large
species such as the humpback whale as well as smaller ani-
mals like the bottlenose dolphin. Whales have always been
hunted. Committed whalers have pursued their prey around
the world, even when the populations of whales were so dam-
aged that the species were nearing extinction.
In the 1900s whale hunters focused their attentions on ani-
mals in the Antarctic, taking factory ships, floating slaughter-
houses where whale carcasses were processed, with the
hunting fleets. At first only the largest animals were harvest-
ed, but as stocks dropped, the smaller, younger individuals
were taken as well. Intense hunting caused populations of
whales to drop dramatically until there was just a handful of
adults left to reproduce. At this point, the whaling industry
collapsed. The last known whaling ship wrecked off the coast
of Maryland in 1924, and the final shore-based whaling oper-
ation closed in the 1930s.
When it began, the whaling industry was unregulated, so
fishermen were free to take as much as they wanted. It was
not until 1946 that the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) was established. The IWC’s original goal was to man-
age the harvest of whales for the benefit of whalers. As it
became clear that populations of whales were crashing, the
IWC developed into a conservation organization with its eye
toward sustaining populations for the future.
In 1965 the IWC called for a stop to hunting blue whales,
and nations that were members of the international commis-
sion complied. Nonmember countries continued to hunt the
animals until 1971. In 1972, when the United States passed
the Marine Mammals Protection Act (MMPA), whales fell
under the act’s protection. The primary government agency
 Endangered Marine Life 93

responsible for enforcing the MMPA is the National Marine

Fisheries Service (NMFS).
In 1974 the IWC began protecting blue, gray, humpback,
and right whales. By the time these species were declared to
be in danger, their populations were on the verge of extinc-
tion. By 1986 the IWC called for a stop of all commercial
whaling. Countries that abstained from the moratorium were
Japan, Norway, and the Soviet Union, although the last finally
stopped hunting whales in 1988. The Antarctic waters were
set aside as a whale sanctuary by the IWC in 1994, but Japan
refused to participate in this decision and continued to hunt
whales there. Currently, Japan still hunts whales and uses the
meat as pet and human food. Norway hunts Minke whales in
the North Atlantic and kills 500 to 900 each year.
Today the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) man-
ages whales in waters of the United States. Figure 5.2 illus-
trates the estimated original global populations of whales and
compares them to present population sizes. Some whale pop-
ulations are making comebacks. Populations of gray whales
have recovered, so they were removed from the endangered
list in 1994. Right whales in the Southern Hemisphere and
blue whales in the eastern North Pacific are doing better. On
the other hand, right whales in the Northern Hemisphere are
not faring well, and there are not many bowhead, blue, or fin
whales in the Southern Ocean. Scientists fear that, for some
species, the effects of whaling may not be completely
reversible.
The dangers faced by whales today are different than they
were 50 years ago, but just as devastating. Whales are now
threatened by entanglement in fishing gear. The first large-
scale bycatch of cetaceans involved oceanic dolphins that
were caught by tuna fisheries in the 1960s. Public outcry
against the deaths of thousands of animals caught in tuna
nets, and the refusal of tuna canneries in the United States to
handle dolphin-caught tuna, led to a change in fishing prac-
tices. However, cetaceans of all sizes still get caught in gill
nets throughout the world.
Changes to environments caused by human activities are
generally believed to adversely affect whales, but data proving
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People and the Sea

Overhunting of Cetaceans

Fig. 5.2 Whales have

been hunted for hundreds
of years, and their
populations are severely
depleted. The seven
species that live in waters
of the United States are
protected under the
Endangered Species Act.
 Endangered Marine Life 95

this assumption has been difficult to gather. Die-offs of bot-

tlenose dolphins in the North Atlantic and in the Gulf of
Mexico are not well understood but attributed to changes in
water quality and environment. Polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), a group of chemicals no longer manufactured but
that persist in the environment, are of special concern and
believed to interfere with the hormones and immune systems
of whales.
Whales use echolocation as a way of gathering information
about their environment and are very sensitive to sounds.
There is mounting evidence that sound in the ocean, includ-
ing ship noises, military sonar systems, and seismic testing,
may be disruptive to the animals. Scientists fear that these
sounds may interfere with navigation, animal-to-animal com-
munication, hunting, and other life-supporting activities
among whales. To date, there are few studies, but anecdotal
evidence suggests that much depends on the distance
between the noise and the whale. Very strong, close underwa-
ter sounds have been shown to cause ruptures of tissues in
the lungs and ears.
Under the MMPA, management and conservation of pin-
nipeds (seals) other than the walrus also falls to the NMFS.
Pinnipeds have always been hunted by native people for their
meat, which was used for food, their fur, a source of clothing
and shelter, and their blubber, which provided oil. In the
Arctic, seal populations were large and healthy until the late
1700s, when whalers and explorers from other parts of the
world spotted the animals. In a short time more than 1.2 mil-
lion animals were slaughtered for sale, and the populations
were decimated. In the 19th and 20th centuries seals were
hunted for fur, at first with lances, then later with guns. All
species of seal fell to the brink of extinction. In many places
populations are recovering, although Steller’s sea lion num-
bers are small, and monk seals have not made a comeback.
Walruses, another pinniped; manatees and dugongs, a
group known as sirenians; and sea otters, carnivorous marine
mammals, are protected by another governmental agency, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). In the 19th and 20th
centuries walruses were hunted for fur and ivory (walrus
96 People and the
T
Sea
Fig. 5.3 At one time,
sea otters were heavily
exploited for their thick
fur. Today recovering
populations are
distributed in coastal
waters across the North
Pacific, from Siberia to
central California.
tusk), and their fate was similar to that of other pinnipeds.
Today there are about 250,000 walruses living around the
Bering Sea, but populations are still considered threatened
because reproductive rates are low.
Sirenians are a small group of plant-eating mammals, pri-
marily found in the warm waters of the Tropics and subtrop-
ics. One member of the group, the Steller’s sea cow, was first
described in 1741, after which it was intensely hunted by
whalers for its meat. By 1768 just 27 years after their discov-
ery, the last known individual was killed. Relatives of the sea
cow, the manatee and dugong, have fared better, but probably
began with larger, more resilient populations. One of the
biggest problems facing manatees is injury, as shown in the
lower color insert on page C-8, caused by the propellers of
boats. Because these slow-moving animals float just beneath
the surface of the water, propellers have hurt and killed more
manatees than any other factor in the waters around Florida.
Sea otters, like the one shown in Figure 5.3, have the dubi-
ous distinction of being the marine mammals with the most
luxuriant fur coats, a feature that made them highly sought-
after. Sea otters have been the targets of hunters since the
1780s. Even though these animals have been on the endan-
gered species list since its inception, their populations are still
 Endangered Marine Life 97

small in some places. Currently, sea otters range from Siberia

to California. They are most often found in kelp beds, where
sea urchins are the favorite food. One group, the California
sea otters, is doing well under a federal recovery program.

Alien Species
Alien species, or nonindigenous
nuisance species, are organisms
that invade ecosystems outside their
home range. Although most invaders
cause no problems, some are capable of
radically changing ecosystems. The infil-
tration of a new species to an area can be
damaging for several reasons. The invad-
er may be more successful than the orig-
inal inhabitants, so it flourishes and uses
up the resources that the native organ-
isms depend on. In other cases, the
invader may be a pathogen or parasite
that decimates native populations.
An alien species can be introduced
into a new ecosystem either intentionally
or unintentionally. If the owner of a salt-
water aquarium tires of the hobby and
releases fish into a neighborhood estuary,
that person has intentionally introduced
a new species to the estuary. On the
other hand, if a boat tied up in port in
Asia unknowingly picks up organisms in
its ballast water, the water taken on to
help keep the ship stable, and carries
them to a port in Florida, those organ-
isms are unintentionally introduced into
Florida waters.
On any day there are about 10,000
marine species hitching rides from one
side of the ocean to another, most travel-
ing in ballast water. Almost any kind of
organism can become an invader, includ-
ing microscopic plankton, fish, snails,
mussels, and crabs.
Today there are about 75 different
kinds of marine invaders in San Francisco
Bay, while there are 35 or more in
Washington State’s Puget Sound and 28
to 32 species in the waters of New
England. A few of the nonnative species
living in San Francisco Bay include the
European green crab, the New Zealand
sea slug, the Chinese mitten crab, as well
as several examples of clams, mussels,
anemones, sponges, fish, and barnacles.
In the early 1800s European green
crabs were introduced into eastern North
America by ships. By 1989 the organisms
had reached the West Coast, traveling in
packing materials or attached to boats.
The female European green crab pro-
duces 200,000 eggs a year, so popula-
tions of the species grow quickly under
good conditions. The presence of
European green crabs has hurt the New
England soft-shell clam industry because
the aliens eat mussels, clams, worms,
algae, isopods, barnacles, and snails, tak-
ing food away from native crabs.
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Conclusion
Biodiversity, the variety of living things in the environment, is
an essential component of a healthy ecosystem. Diversity is
important on the genetic level, the species level, and the
ecosystem level. Loss of diversity at any one of these levels
influences the condition of the other two.
In the ocean entire species of organisms have, and continue
to, disappear. The reasons for some extinctions are very com-
plex and involve natural causes, but the loss of others is sim-
ply due to overhunting. Steller’s sea cows, for example, were
killed for meat until all the animals were gone. In other cases,
pollution, loss of habitat, and factors such as global warming
have worked together to weaken species and make them more
vulnerable to disease and predation.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was established in
1973 to regulate wildlife trade in plants and animals. Shortly
afterward, the U.S. Congress passed the Endangered Species
Act to stop the extinction of species throughout their global
range. Organisms close to extinction were ranked as “endan-
gered.” Once a species was officially placed on the Endangered
Species Act, it was afforded protection from the factors con-
tributing to its demise.
Marine organisms on the Endangered Species List include
plants, invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Loss
of species at the lower levels of the food chain, such as the
Johnson sea grass, can also result in loss of higher trophic
level organisms. In coral reefs, the staghorn and elkhorn
coral, two threatened species, serve as the foundations for the
development of complex communities and therefore serve as
the architects of these colorful marine ecosystems.
Endangered marine mammals are some of the best-known
animals in the world. Since the beginning of the Endangered
Species Act, their plights have received international atten-
tion, and much effort has been focused on assisting in their
recovery. Thanks to recovery programs and volunteer efforts,
the gray whales, walrus, and many others are making
comebacks.
 6

rThe Ocean’s Resources

s the size of the population increases and demands
A on the limited supplies of terrestrial natural
resources dwindle, scientists turn their attention to the seas.
The oceans are the world’s largest reservoirs of natural
resources. Food is one of the most important of these resources,
but others include water, minerals, petroleum, building materi-
als, chemicals, and energy.
Currently, only a fraction of the materials in use are derived
from the ocean. Because submarine resources are more diffi-
cult to harvest than terrestrial ones, they are largely untapped.
As the world begins to focus on these underwater riches, ecol-
ogists worry that an increase in the use of materials from the
sea could damage its fragile ecosystems.

A Source of Salt and Water

The two largest components of the ocean are salt and water, so
it makes sense that people should turn to the ocean for these
materials. Salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), can be removed
from seawater, and the ocean presently supplies about 30 per-
cent of the salt sold around the world. A few of the largest sea
salt processing plants are located in France, Puerto Rico,
California, Bahamas, Hawaii, and the Netherlands Antilles.
The balance of the world’s salt supply is mined from deposits
on land that were formed when ancient seas evaporated.
To keep costs low, salt is processed from seawater with as
little energy as possible. One frequently used, low-energy
method of operation depends on evaporation. Seawater is
guided into shallow ponds and allowed to evaporate. The salt
left behind is cleaned and processed for the market. In cold
parts of the world, where evaporation rates are low, water is

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100 People and the Sea

channeled into shallow ponds and allowed to freeze. When

water freezes, it excludes any minerals, like salt, that are dis-
solved in it. After chunks of ice are removed, the salty water
left behind is heated to drive off moisture.
Water, possibly the most important compound to living
things on the Earth, can also be derived from the ocean.
Supplies of clean water are critical for every community of
organisms. As the human population increases, so do the
demands on streams, rivers, and underground reservoirs,
the traditional sources of water. As a group, freshwater
sources make up only 3 percent of the water supply; nine-
ty-seven percent of the water on Earth is located in the
oceans.
Before water from the ocean can be used in homes, busi-
ness, and industries, the salt must be removed. The process of
salt removal, desalination, is expensive because it requires a
lot of energy. Currently, desalination plants only exist in
regions that have no other freshwater options. There are more
than 7,500 desalination plants in the world, with 60 percent
located in arid Middle Eastern countries. Operations in the
United States account for only 12 percent of the worldwide
desalination. Texas and California currently run desalination
plants, but these are designed to produce drinking water only.
Desalination is an expensive process and cannot be used to
provide water for agriculture and other nondrinking needs.
Salt can be removed from water in a variety of processes,
but the two most common ones are distillation and reverse
osmosis (RO). Distillation, the oldest desalting technology,
uses heating, evaporation, and condensation, a series of
events that mimic the natural water cycle. In a desalination
plant, water is heated, usually with fossil fuels, to boiling. To
increase evaporative rates and conserve fuel, some plants
employ a technique that sprays salt water near a source of
heat, causing flash evaporation. A multistage flash method
water distillery in Saudi Arabia produces about 250 million
gallons (946,500,000 L) of freshwater a day. There are cur-
rently about 2,000 desalination plants using a multistage
flash technique, each producing freshwater at a cost of about
$4 per 1,000 gallons (3,785 L).
 The Ocean’s Resources 101

In the process of reverse osmosis (RO), water is forced

through a membrane that excludes salt. Before water can be
processed in an RO plant, it must be pretreated with coagu-
lants to solidify the salts. The membrane holds back these
coagulated salts, allowing only pure water to pass through. In
another type of RO system, a tube made of membrane is low-
ered into the sea. Water flows into the tube, but salt is exclud-
ed and left outside the membrane. The RO method keeps out
bacteria as well as unwanted chemicals such as pesticides and
antibiotics. In addition, RO is less expensive than distillation,
costing only $2 per 1,000 gallons (3,785 L).
One major disadvantage of desalination is the production
of a waste product called brine, a solution of highly concen-
trated salt water. Brine disposal is a problem for desalination
plants. Brine cannot be returned to the ocean because it
would affect the salinity of seawater and damage the environ-
ment, and it cannot be buried in a landfill since it would pol-
lute groundwater. Currently, brine is stored in holding tanks,
but better long-term solutions are needed.

Harvesting Medicine
Scientists are finding that the ocean is a rich source of unique
chemicals, many of which have use as medicines. Biologists
have long known that a number of marine plants and animals
produce chemicals to protect themselves from predators. For
example, many of the animal inhabitants of coral reefs,
including sponges and flatworms, use chemical defenses.
Most of these organisms are either slow moving or perma-
nently attached to the substrates, so they cannot run from
predators. For protection, their bodies manufacture toxic or
foul tasting chemicals. In addition, some animals also pro-
duce a layer of slime that prevents bacteria from growing on
their skin. Scientists are looking closely at these types of
defensive chemicals as sources of new drugs and chemicals
that can be used in research.
When scientists found bacteria living around geothermal
vents and other blistering hot environments, they began
experiments to find out how these organisms could survive
102 People and the
T Sea

Zones in the Ocean

From the land, oceans often
appear to be wide homoge-
neous expanses with wavy
surfaces. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Concealed beneath the oceans’
waves are thousands of unique habitats
and niches, each the result of one-of-a-
kind combinations of light, temperature,
water chemistry, and nutrients. Ocean
habitats are found in both the water col-
umn and on the seafloor. For conven-
ience, the waters and the ocean floors are
divided into zones that are shown in
Figure 6.1.
Deepwater regions of the ocean are
referred to as the pelagic or oceanic zones,
whereas areas above the shallow continen-
tal shelf are described as the neritic zones or
nearshore waters. Below the water column
is the seafloor, or the benthos. The region
at the high-tide mark is the intertidal zone.
Moving out to sea other zones are the sub-
littoral, bathyal, abyssal, and hadal.
The intertidal zone is the stretch of ocean
between high and low tides. This area of shal-
low, tidal water is only found along the
coasts. The sublittoral zone begins at the
base of the intertidal zone and extends
throughout continental shelves. Con-
sequently, sublittoral substrates exist from
depths of just a few inches to 656.2 feet (200
m). The sublittoral zone ends at the point
where the continental shelf begins its sharp,
downward descent.
The bathyal zone starts at the continen-
tal slope and includes the slope as well as
the continental rise, a section of floor where
water varies in depth from 656.2 feet (200
m) to 6,561.7 feet (2,000 m). Extending
from the continental rise are the two deep-
est sections of the sea. Beyond the rise is
the abyssal zone, whose depths extend
from 6,561.7 to 19,685 feet (2,000 to
6,000 m). Below that is the hadal zone,
which includes water that reaches depths of
36,089.2 feet (11,000 m).

such extreme conditions. These thermophiles, or heat lovers,

live at temperatures that are lethal to other kinds of organ-
isms. Scientists found that the thermophiles possess some
unique enzymes. All living things produce enzymes, proteins
that speed up chemical reactions, but in most creatures
enzymes break down under high temperatures. Experiments
on thermophiles show that their unique enzymes can remain
intact and function in extreme heat.
This discovery led to the use of thermophile enzymes to
solve some unique laboratory problems. For example, the
 The Ocean’s Resources 103

Fig. 6.1 The continental shelf (a) begins a downward

slant at the continental slope (b). At the foot of the slope is
the continental rise (c). Submarine canyons (d) can be
found in some continental slopes. Extending seaward from
the continental rise is the abyssal plain (e).

enzyme Pfu polymerase, one of the products of thermophilic

bacteria, can quickly make thousands of copies of DNA under
very hot conditions. When the Pfu enzyme was added to
extremely small laboratory samples of DNA and incubated at
high temperatures, the enzymes multiplied the DNA samples.
This enzyme enabled scientists to create large quantities of
DNA from originally small specimens. The technique of
amplifying a sample of DNA has many applications, including
use in forensic labs to help identify criminals from tiny bits of
DNA evidence.
 T
104 People and the Sea

One of the best places for scientists to look for new sea
chemicals is around the coral reefs. Reefs are densely populat-
ed ocean communities with a lot of biodiversity. Because com-
petition for food and space is intense on coral reefs,
organisms that live there are very specialized and produce a
variety of unusual chemicals. The first medicine that was iso-
lated from the sea came from a sea sponge that lives on
Caribbean reefs. Found decades ago, the chemical was used
to develop Cytosar-UR, an anticancer drug.
Chemicals are not the only materials that can be used in
medicine; other ocean-derived materials are also useful. The
hard exoskeletons of coral animals can be used as a substitute
for bone in bone graphs. The exoskeleton of Porites, a species
of coral, is similar in structure to bone and is commonly used
in surgery. The calcium carbonate of the coral’s exoskeleton
provides a scaffold that can support cells as they attach and
grow. For people who have lost an eye, coral exoskeleton can
also be fashioned into eye-shaped spheres that fit into eye
sockets. Because the chemical and physical structures of coral
are similar to human physiology, the coral makes an excellent
eye implant.

Marine Mining
The ocean is a rich source of minerals, but not all can be har-
vested in a way that is economically feasible. Some are too
dilute in the water column or too widely dispersed on the
seafloor to make their recovery worth the effort. In many
cases, the minerals are simply too difficult to get to, like those
in deepwater around hydrothermal vents. Despite these
obstacles, several minerals are currently being mined for the
oceans, and their production is a $500 million a year industry.
Most of the world’s supply of magnesium and bromine
come from oceans. Magnesium has been commercially
extracted for about a century. In industry, magnesium is com-
bined with other metals to form mixtures called alloys.
Magnesium and iron alloys form strong, lightweight steel that
is essential in the aerospace industry and in the manufacture
of tools.
 The Ocean’s Resources 105

Bromine is not used as much now as it has been in the past.

At one time, bromine was an important ingredient in the lead-
based, antiknocking chemical additives for gasoline. Since the
removal of lead from gasoline, this product is no longer need-
ed, but bromine still plays rolls in the production of fumi-
gants, flame retardants, dyes, and some medicines.
The most commonly mined materials from the ocean are
those used in construction such as sand and gravel. As a
group, construction materials represent 40 percent of marine
mineral production. Sand and gravel are important compo-
nents in the cement and concrete industries. In the United
States the seabed is the primary source of most commercial-
scale sand and gravel mines. Large deposits of these minerals
are located off the northeast coast.
Sand and gravel can be dug from the seafloor with
clamshell-type buckets, or pulled up by suction with sand
pumps. Sand pumps are more popular than buckets but cre-
ate more turbidity, or cloudiness, in the water. Japan leads the
world in sand and gravel offshore mining, primarily because
of the environmental restrictions placed on mining these
materials onshore in that country. Offshore sand and gravel
supplies are also critically important in the United Kingdom
and in Hawaii, locations where terrestrial sources are lacking.
Silica sand and phosphate compounds are mined offshore
for use in industry. Silica, or industrial sand, is the chief com-
ponent in the manufacture of glass in Japan, northern New
Zealand, and the Baltic. Argonite sand can be found in the
shallow waters off the Bahamas, where it is mined by suction.
The material is shipped to markets in the United States and
Caribbean, for agricultural and industrial chemical processes.
Phosphorite is a mineral that contains phosphate nutrient
required by plants. For this reason, phosphorite is an essential
ingredient in fertilizers and a vital mineral resource for agri-
culture. Because phosphorite is abundant along most of the
continental shelves, it is a potential source of fertilizer for
Third World countries. Especially rich deposits of phospho-
rite are located in areas where nutrient-rich waters upwell,
carrying minerals up from the depths. Some important
regions of upwelling water are along the southeastern and
 T
106 People and the Sea

southwestern coasts of the United States, the west coast of

South America, and on the African coast in the Indian Ocean.
Phosphorite is also used industrially in the production of
soaps, detergent, and explosives.
In some regions of the seafloor, mineral-laden sediments
accumulate on the continental shelves as placer deposits, sed-
iments that contain a variety of minerals, including iron, tin,
uranium, platinum, gold, and diamonds. For decades tin has
been removed from placer deposits along the coast of
Thailand. Tin is used in the manufacture of containers, sol-
ders, engine parts, and air and oil filters.
Gold exists in placer sediments near the coast of Alaska. To
find the mineral, miners use 10-inch (25.40 cm) hoses that lit-
erally suck up the top layer of the seafloor. Shallow-water sedi-
ments, usually within one-quarter mile (0.40 km) off the shore,
are pumped to the surface and dumped into sluice boxes,
which separate the gold from other minerals. The unwanted
materials are discharged back into the water. The University of
Alaska at Fairbanks calculates that the sediments off the coast
of Alaska hold more than 3 million ounces of gold.
Manganese is a constituent of polymetallic nodules, irregu-
lar spheres that can be found in regions of the seafloor that
extend from the shallows to19,685 feet (6,000 m) in depth.
The nodules also contain copper, cobalt, and nickel. Found
scattered across 25 percent of the ocean floor, polymetallic
nodules are most concentrated in the equatorial waters of the
Pacific Ocean. By some estimates there may be as much as 16
million tons of these nodules on ocean floors. Although com-
mercial miners have not yet developed a way to recover the
nodules economically, they are still trying. In the United
States, manganese is used to manufacture iron alloys and to
make electrolytic manganese for use in dry-cell batteries.
Alloys of manganese and steel are sensitive to changes in tem-
perature, so important in making temperature-activated
switches. Manganese also plays a role in the production of
hardened steel, a material used to make support structures
like I beams.
Diamonds, the only gemstone mined in the ocean, can be
found in coastal deposits along South Africa. The diamonds
 The Ocean’s Resources 107

in these sediments are derived from the rocks that produce

the African diamond mines. To harvest them, miners dredge
coastal sand and gravel at depths of 328 feet (100 m), then
carefully sift through the sediments looking for gems.
Deep-sea geothermal vents are areas where superheated,
mineral-laden water spews through the crust into the ocean.
There are about 140 active, or recently active, geothermal
vents on the seafloor. Hot water pouring from vents carries a
load of metals and dissolved minerals. Many of these vents
show little or no mineral deposits, while others are large and
active, producing minerals in the water all around them. In
the Trans-Atlantic Geotravers (TAG) site, an area in the mid-
Atlantic ocean at the mid-oceanic ridge, there are a large
number of geothermal vents with generous deposits of miner-
als. The regions around the vents contain millions of tons of
sediments that are rich in copper, zinc, lead, and gold.

Offshore Oil and Natural Gas

Oil and gas make it possible for people all over the world to
have electricity and transportation. Gigantic refineries con-
vert the raw material, crude oil or petroleum, into products
like gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel. Crude oil is also the
basis of the petrochemical industry that manufactures plas-
tics, fertilizers, and a host of other materials from oil.
Offshore production of oil and natural gas accounts for 90
percent of the mineral value of the ocean and generates hun-
dreds of billions of dollars in revenue globally. Currently,
about one-quarter of the supplies of these two resources are
being mined from offshore wells. Geologists predict that the
stores of oil and petroleum in the sea are large and may repre-
sent one-third of the Earth’s total reserves. Significant stores
of fuel lie off the coasts of southern California and Alaska,
and in the Gulf of Mexico. All these deposits of oil and natu-
ral gas are believed to be on the continental shelves, with lit-
tle in the deep regions of the sea.
Oil and gas come from layers of rocks called reservoirs that
are usually associated with marine sediments. These two fos-
sil fuels were formed from the remains of tiny, soft-bodied
 T
108 People and the Sea

plants and animals that lived in the water and on the seafloor.
When they died, some of these marine organisms accumulat-
ed in low-oxygen environments, where bottom scavengers
were few. Eventually, their tissues were buried under layers of
sediments. For eons sand and silt rained down on the sedi-
ments, adding to the weight of material covering these organ-
isms. As time passed, the pressure and heat of the overlying
materials increased, slow-cooking the buried bodies. The
intense heat and pressure caused chemical changes that con-
verted the tissues into simple hydrocarbons, compounds
made of hydrogen and carbon. Over millions of years the bur-
ial grounds became oil-saturated rocks.
All the organic matter trapped in the sediments may not
have turned into oil. Materials trapped for longer periods of
time, and in hotter conditions, were usually converted into
natural gas. That is why geologists search for natural gas in
deeper, older layers of the Earth’s crust, where temperatures
are higher.
Oil is less dense than other sediments, so it rises above
them, migrating up through the layers as far as it can travel.
Eventually, the thick fluid hits a cap, a layer of sediment made
of impenetrable material like clay that keeps it from rising any
higher. Oil can remain trapped below a cap for millions of
years. The deposits of oil may be as thick as tar, or as thin as
water, and the color can vary from black to clear.
Drilling for oil in the ocean is more expensive than drilling
on land. Even so, there are wells located on continental
shelves around the world. In the Gulf of Mexico and off the
coast of California, about 4,000 drilling platforms service
thousands of underwater wells.
For an offshore well to be economically feasible, it must be
a big producer, generating at least three or four times as much
oil as a well on the continent. To recover offshore oil in rela-
tively shallow waters, those less than 330 feet (100 m) deep,
huge platforms are erected on top of long, thin-legged rigs.
The platforms are often large enough to provide housing for
the drilling crew and a base of operations for the equipment.
In water that is too deep to build a rig, floating platforms are
used. These are actually self-propelled, bargelike structures
 The Ocean’s Resources 109

tied to the seafloor with giant cables. After a deep-water well is

complete, the platform can be lowered to the seafloor and
sealed over the well to protect it. Oil rigs of this type have been
used to drill wells in waters as deep as 7,500 feet (2,200 m).

Alternative Energy Sources

Oil and natural gas are convenient and relatively easy-to-use
sources of power, but they have some serious disadvantages.
Both are considered to be nonrenewable resources since they
exist in finite supplies. It is possible that, one day in the
future, mankind will run out of oil and natural gas. The com-
bustion of these fossil fuels has negative impacts on the envi-
ronment, causing problems like acid rain and the greenhouse
effect. As a result, scientists are actively searching for cleaner
sources of energy. The ocean offers four environmentally
friendly possibilities: tidal power, wave power, thermal con-
version, and wind power. All four are based on the same prin-
ciple: Energy is used to turn the blades of turbines, and the
turbines are attached to electrical generators.
Tidal power takes advantage of the gravitational pull of the
Moon, using the differences in water levels at high and low
tides. The largest tidal power plant in the world was built in
1966 in Saint-Malo, France. This plant includes a damlike
structure called a barrage that crosses the mouth of an estu-
ary. The barrage operates very much like a hydroelectric dam.
When the tide goes in and out, water flows through the bar-
rage and turns turbines. The Saint-Malo plant produces 240
megawatts of energy, enough to power about 240,000 homes.
Barrage-style tidal power plants are only effective in places
where the difference in the heights of high and low tide is at
least 16 feet (4.9 m). In the United States the areas where a
barrage-style tidal power plant are feasible are along the
coasts of Alaska and Maine. To offer tidal power in regions
where high and low tides cover smaller distances, engineers
have developed a different kind of generator.
A plant made up of six small turbines has recently begun
operation in New York City’s East River. Although each unit
can generate only about 200 to 300 kilowatts of energy,
 T
110 People and the Sea

enough to power a small neighborhood, this endeavor is the

first power-producing tidal turbine farm in the world.
Windmill-shaped turbines are installed in the river about 29.5
feet (nine meters) below the surface of the water. As the tide
flows in and out of the river, the moving water turns the
blades of the turbines. The heads of the turbines are designed
to pivot to face the current, no matter what its direction of
flow. By the time the project is complete, developers will have
300 turbines installed in the river.
Waves are one of the ocean’s most noticeable surface fea-
tures. Although it appears that water travels across the
ocean’s surface in waves, the only thing that travels in a
wave is energy. Water simply moves up and down. The orig-
inal energy that starts waves comes from several sources,
but the most common one is wind. Others include land-
slides, volcanic eruptions, and movement along faults on
the ocean floor.
The enormous amount of energy in ocean waves can be
converted into mechanical energy and used to rotate the
blades of turbines. Several European countries, especially the
United Kingdom, Germany, and Denmark, are leading the
field in wave energy and currently have dozens of offshore
projects. In the United States a wave energy plant is being
considered off the coast of Washington State.
In a wave plant, there are two basic elements: a wave ener-
gy collector and a generator that converts the wave energy
into electricity. The wave energy collector is a sloping, boxlike
container that is built into the shoreline. As a wave enters the
box, it compresses the air in the top of the chamber, then
forces it through an opening called a “blowhole” that is
directed toward the blades of a turbine. As water moves back
out of the chamber, air is sucked back in through the blow-
hole, pulling air over the turbine blades again. The turbine is
designed to turn in one direction, no matter what the direc-
tion of the airflow.
Tides and wave energy devices are based on the use of the
sea’s movements or mechanical energy. Another source of
energy, the ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), takes
 The Ocean’s Resources 111

advantage of the difference in the temperatures of warm,

upper-layer waters and cold, deep-region waters. OTEC
works in tropical and subtropical regions, where the surface
waters receive, and store, a lot of heat energy from the Sun.
Each OTEC plant has a large pipe driven into the deep part
of the ocean, where water temperatures are very low. This
intake pipe draws cold water off the bottom and moves it
toward the surface. Depending on the design, there are two
ways that the cold water can be used to create power: the
closed-cycle technique and the open-cycle method.
In the closed-cycle system, thermal energy in the surface
layer of water is used to heat a fluid. Heating causes the fluid
to vaporize. The fluid is one that boils at a relatively low tem-
perature, such as ammonia, whose boiling point is –28°F
(–33.9°C). As liquid ammonia changes into a vapor, it
expands and pushes against the blades of a turbine. Next the
vaporized ammonia is cooled using cold seawater. As it cools,
the ammonia changes back into a liquid. Immediately, the
ammonia is heated again with warm surface water and the
cycle repeats.
In the open-cycle system, the only fluid used is seawater.
Warm water from the surface of the ocean enters a vacuum,
which causes it to turn into a vapor. As in the closed-cycle sys-
tem, the expanding vapor turns the turbine blades. The vapor
is then exposed to cold water and condenses. In this case the
condensate, the liquid that forms from the vapor, is pure water
and can be used for drinking, or it can be returned to the ocean.
Of all the methods to generate energy one of the most
promising uses offshore winds. According to the Department
of Energy, wind power is the fastest-growing energy resource
in the world. Wind projects established in several parts of
Europe have performed satisfactorily. The constant, strong
winds that are characteristic of offshore locations make them
ideal sites for wind-powered energy plants.
In wind-powered plants, tall towers support turbines fitted
with windmill-like paddles. Although an offshore wind ener-
gy plant does not exist in the United States at this time, the
pros and cons are under review for the construction of a
112 People and the
T Sea
Tides
Tides result from a combination of three
forces: the gravitational force of the Sun, the
gravitational force of the Moon, and
the motion of the Earth. Gravity is the
force of attraction, or pull, between two
bodies. Everything that has mass exerts grav-
ity. The Earth and Moon exert gravitational
pulls on each other. Because the Earth has
more mass than the Moon, its gravity keeps
the Moon in orbit. The Moon does not fall
into the Earth because of the inertia, the ten-
dency of a moving object to keep moving,
that is created by their stable orbits.
The inward force of gravity and the out-
ward force of inertia affect the entire sur-
face of the Earth, but not to the same
degree. Owing to Earth’s rounded shape,
the equator is closer to the Moon than
Earth’s poles are. The pull of the Moon’s
gravity is consequently stronger around the
equator. On the side of the Earth facing the
Moon at any given time, the Moon’s gravi-
ty pulls the Earth toward it. The solid Earth
is unable to respond dramatically to that
pull, but the liquid part of Earth can. As a
result, the ocean bulges out toward the
Moon on the side of Earth that is facing it.
On the side that is farthest from the Moon,
inertia flings water away from the Moon.
The Moon’s pull on one side of Earth and
the force of inertia on the opposite side cre-
ate two bulges—high tides—in the ocean.
The bulges do not rotate around the
Earth as it turns on its axis. Instead, they
remain aligned with the Moon as the Earth
rotates under them. Different parts of the
Earth move into and out of these bulges as
it goes through one rotation, or one day.
Even though the Sun is much farther
from Earth than the Moon is, the Sun also
has an effect on tides. The Sun’s influence is
only about half that of the Moon’s. A small
solar bulge on Earth follows the Sun
throughout the day, and the side of the
Earth opposite the Sun experiences a small
inertial bulge.
The Moon revolves around the Earth in a
28-day cycle. As it does so, the positions of
the Moon, Earth, and Sun relative to one
another change. The three bodies are per-
fectly aligned during two phases: new
moon and full moon, as shown in Figure
6.2. At these times, the Sun and Moon
forces are acting on the same area of Earth
at the same time, causing high tide to be at
its highest and low tide to be at its lowest.
These extremes are known as spring tides
and occur every two weeks.
During first- and third-quarter condi-
tions, when only one-half of the Moon is
visible in the night sky, the Sun and Moon
are at right angles to the Earth. In these
positions, their gravitational pulls are work-
ing against each other, and the two bodies
cancel each other’s effects to some degree,
causing high tides to be at their lowest, and
low tides to be at their highest. These neap
tides also occur every two weeks.

Fig. 6.2 Every two weeks, the Sun and Moon are
aligned with Earth so that the gravitational forces
of both heavenly bodies create very high tides
called spring tides. When the Moon and Sun are at
right angles to Earth, lower, or neap, tides result.
The Ocean’s Resources 113
facility off the coast of Cape Cod,
Massachusetts. Developers pro-
pose 170 wind turbines rising 420
feet (128 m) above the water. Such
a plant will be capable of produc-
ing about 160 megawatts of energy
a year.
Conclusion
Water and salt, the two most com-
mon components of seawater, can be
recovered from the ocean. In coastal
countries where rainfall is infrequent,
desalination plants are important
sources of water. Seawater can be
desalinated in several ways, but the
two most common processes are dis-
tillation and reverse osmosis.
Distillation, the older of the two tech-
niques, follows a protocol very simi-
lar to the natural cycling of water.
Water is changed into a vapor by
heating, and the condensate is col-
lected. In reverse osmosis, salt water
is filtered through a membrane that
excludes salt as well as bacteria and
undesirable chemicals like pesticides.
Of the two methods, reverse osmosis
is the least expensive.
Some of the chemicals recovered
from the sea have found uses in
medicine and research. In a search for
more oceanic chemicals, scientists
are exploring places where life
abounds, such as coral reefs. Some
of the most promising chemicals to
date have been derived from bacteria,
 T
114 People and the Sea

sponges, and sea plants. Pfu, an enzyme found in bacteria that

live around geothermal vents, has provided the basis for DNA
amplification, a technique that makes it possible to produce a
large sample of DNA from a small one.
Minerals are mined from the ocean as construction materi-
als and as ingredients for a variety of industrial uses. Sand and
gravel are the biggest products of mineral mining and are used
as ingredients in concrete and cement. Manganese, an element
that can be found in metallic nodules that lie on the seafloor, is
an essential component in the production of dry-cell batteries
and in forming iron alloys. Metallic nodules also contain other
valuable minerals such as copper, cobalt, and nickel.
Rich in the element phosphorous, the mineral phosphorite
can be found on continental shelves where mineral-rich water
upwells from the cold ocean floor. In the future, phosphorite
mining might provide phosphorous for farmers in developing
countries who need the element to fertilize their crops.
Placer deposits contain ample supplies of economically
important metals, such as tin, zinc, and lead, as well as signif-
icant quantities of gold and diamond. Such deposits provide
important sources of tin in Thailand. Off the coast of Alaska,
placer deposits contain millions of tons of gold, which is
mined by vacuuming sediments off the seafloor and sifting
them for gold pieces. Diamonds are mined in a similar man-
ner off the coast of South Africa.
Oil and gas are the two most commercially profitable
resources in the ocean. Most oil is found in spongy rock lay-
ers capped with impermeable material like clay. Both oil and
coal are fossil fuels, formed from the remains of dead plants
and animals that were buried under sea sediments millions of
years ago. Natural gas requires more heat and pressure than
oil, so is usually found in deeper, older layers of rocks.
Because burning fossil fuel creates problems in the environ-
ment, cleaner alternative energy sources are being researched.
Several European countries have taken significant strides to
decrease their dependence on fossil fuels. Tidal power plants,
like one in France, harness the energy of tides and use it to
turn turbines. Wave energy plants work on a similar plan,
using the energy of waves to compress air. Ocean thermal
 The Ocean’s Resources 115

conversion energy plants heat a fluid, which vaporizes and

turns the blades of a turbine. Unlike tide and wave energy
plants, OTEC does not depend on the mechanical action of
the ocean.
Of all the future energy sources, wind energy is the most
promising. Off the coast of several European countries, wind
energy towers support huge propellers. As they turn in the con-
stant winds of the coastal regions, the propellers cause turbines
to rotate, generating electricity. Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is
examining plans for such a facility just off its coastline.
7

rThe Future of Human

and Ocean Interactions
n the past, the impacts of human activities on the oceans
I were poorly understood, and the marine environment
was treated as if it were resilient, inexhaustible, and self-sus-
taining. As a result, centuries of overfishing, pollution, and
habitat destruction have damaged marine ecosystems, culmi-
nating in their current state of crisis.
Today, with almost half the world’s population living along
the coasts, marine ecosystems continue to be strained by
human activities. In addition, the ever-growing population is
generating newer, more global threats to seas. Ocean well-
being is severely impacted by complex issues such as global
warming and ozone depletion. The potential for damage from
these two problems is limitless and includes devastation of
food chains, loss of species, dramatic alterations in sea levels,
and massive die-offs of coral reefs.
Even though past damage and current threats are extensive,
the situation is not hopeless. Scientists and researchers are
identifying some of the trends that have led to today’s state of
crisis and using the information they gather to lay down a
future plan of action that will sustain marine environments.
Wiser decisions about the ways people interact with the sea
are now being made. The outcomes of these decisions lie in
the ongoing work of politicians, scientists, policy-makers,
and the public in general.

The Latest News

The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, a group that includes
conservationists, fishermen, elected officials, naval officers,
and scientists, released a preliminary report in April 2004 that
may prove to be the basis for future, sustainable relationships

116
 The Future of Human and Ocean Interactions 117

with ocean environments. Established by President George W.

Bush, the group was charged with the job of finding better
ways to work with and manage ocean systems. After three
years of labor, the commission generated the most comprehen-
sive assessment of this country’s marine practices in 35 years.
The recommendations of the commission are comprehen-
sive, and to carry them out the report suggests that the feder-
al government double its budget for ocean research (which is
currently $650 million a year). The group urges the allocation
of another $246 million a year for ocean education. To over-
see these recommendations, the commission suggests that
Congress set up a National Ocean Council.
Recommendations by the commission include the establish-
ment of measurable, pollution-reduction goals, especially for
nonpoint source pollutants such as runoff from city streets,
agricultural fields, and livestock management systems. Tying
in closely is the suggestion to create a form of ecosystem-based
management that will monitor and limit the amount of pollu-
tion produced within well-defined marine regions.
Recognizing the value of the fishing industry, which sup-
ports thousands of individuals and businesses and contributes
valuable resources to the economy, the commission warns that
without drastic changes, all fishing stocks will soon be deplet-
ed. To address the problem, the commission has several recom-
mendations, including the establishment of a fisheries
management system that is based on scientific data about the
health of fish stocks, regulation of fishing gear that can damage
marine habitats, and establishment of plans to monitor and
limit the amount of bycatch. The commission points out that
the value of such programs in preserving fish stocks has already
been established by the successes of earlier efforts. When limits
were set on the number of striped bass that could be fished,
their severely depleted populations made a dramatic comeback.
After pollution was reduced along the coast of Los Angeles, fish
communities there were reestablished, along with damaged
kelp beds and reduced populations of seabirds. Regulation of
North Atlantic swordfish fishing and protection of swordfish
nurseries restored populations of these once-threatened fish.
 T
118 People and the Sea

To support the management of fisheries as well as adminis-

tration and enforcement of pollution-reduction and marine
educational programs, the commission wants to establish an
Ocean Policy Trust Fund from money earned through the
development of offshore oil and gas drilling. Currently, the
U.S. Treasury Department collects about $5 billion a year in
royalties and other types of payments for exploration and
mining of marine fossil fuels. The commission plans to use
most of this money, with the balance going toward conserva-
tion of land and water and the preservation of historically
important regions.

An Eye on Today and Tomorrow

Once people learn to interact with the ocean in a harmonious
way, the potential benefits are endless. In the field of research
alone, the ocean holds tremendous promise. Currently, marine
environments are the focus of much of the research for life-
saving medicines. Of the millions of organisms that live in the
ocean, only a few hundred have even been sampled as poten-
tial sources of useful drugs, and scientists feel that future sam-
pling may produce medicines that could be used to treat
devastating conditions such as malaria, cancer, and AIDS.
In the quest for new medicines, regions of the ocean that
support diverse forms of life attract the most attention.
Researchers looking for new molecules focus on the odd and
unusual creatures, specimens such as animals that lack shells
or protective armor but are avoided by predators, plants that
do not have fungi or parasites living on them, and sponges
that stand alone in the middle of crowded seafloor communi-
ties. These are the kinds of organisms most likely to be mak-
ing biologically active compounds to protect themselves.
Already scientists have made some exciting discoveries.
Tiny, saclike animals called sea squirts attach to rocks, piers,
roots, and any other firm substrates. Despite their bloblike
appearance, the animals are evolutionarily more closely relat-
ed to humans than any of the other invertebrates. Professor
Ken Rinehart of the University of Illinois has isolated a chem-
ical from sea squirts that has life-saving potential. The chemi-
 The Future of Human and Ocean Interactions 119

cal led to the development of an experimental drug named

ecteinascidin that holds promise as a potential treatment for
cancer.
Colorful marine cone snails have yielded a different kind of
medicine. Cone snails produce an unusual venom that is not
just made of one kind of toxin, like most venoms, but con-
tains a mixture of dozens of nerve toxins. In nature some of
the compounds in cone snail venom shock the victim, like an
electric eel might do, while others cause paralysis, similar to
the venom of a cobra. Pharmacologist Baldomero Olivera at
the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, discovered the complex
toxin and is using it to develop a new type of pain medicine
he calls Prialt. This new drug may prove to be thousands of
times more effective than morphine for people who suffer
from chronic pain. In the body, Prialt seems to prevent pain
impulses from reaching the brain by interfering with their
transmission through nerves of the spinal cord.
William Fenical, director of Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, California, has isolated a chemical called
pseudopterosin from sea feathers, delicate cousins of sea
stars. Pseudopterosin soothes swelling and may find uses in
the treatment of a wide range of inflammatory conditions,
from sunburn to arthritis. Fenical is also looking at a chemi-
cal from sponges that interferes with cell division in cancer
cells as well as a virus-destroying chemical produced by a
mold that grows on sea grass.
From his base of operations at the University of
Mississippi, Dr. Mark T. Hamann has been researching the
chemicals in sponges since 1993. In 2001 he found a drug
that may help treat three devastating conditions: malaria,
tuberculosis, and HIV infection. Called manzamine, the drug
seems to stimulate the immune system, spurring the body of
the person infected to fight off the disease.
The potential for life-saving medicines from the ocean is
exciting, but some scientists are interested in other kinds of
deep-water discoveries. The individual fibers of glass sponges
are providing fascinating ideas to engineers who are working
to improve fiber optic cables. The glass sponges are a group of
animals that can produce thin, glasslike fibers capable of
 T
120 People and the Sea

transmitting light, very similar to the high-tech fiber optic

cables used in telecommunications. The naturally produced
cables have several benefits over the man-made versions.
Natural fiber optic cables are flexible and can be tied in knots
without breaking, a practice that would snap the brittle, man-
made technology. Engineers are anxious to find out how glass
sponge fibers can transmit light, even though they are thin
and flexible.
In a different lab, researchers have recently learned that a
cousin of the sea star, the brittle star, has a unique optical sys-
tem. Brittle stars are relatively simple animals that lack eyes.
Recent studies have shown that each animal has multiple lens-
es embedded in its skin. The lenses seem to work together to
form a simple eye that can pick up motion, providing a warn-
ing if a predator approaches. Researchers hope to use these
lenses as models for developing improved guidance systems.
The consequences of disrespecting the ocean go further than
losing a good source of raw materials; they literally bring life on
Earth to the verge of extinction. The ocean is as vital a part of
the Earth as the heart is of the body. Like the human body, the
Earth is a single, working unit. Eact part of the unit deserves
respect and care. In the past, mistakes have been made, but
they can be learning experiences instead of defeats. Today peo-
ple have a better sense of how their daily decisions and actions
impact the whole globe. This knowledge provides them with
an opportunity to work as a world community toward preserv-
ing the ocean for the benefit of future generations.
 Glossary
A
algal bloom The rapid growth of cyanobacteria or algae populations that
results in large mats of organisms floating in the water
ammonia A pungent, gaseous nitrogen compound that is soluble in
water
anadromous fish Fish that reproduce in freshwater and spend their
adult lives in the ocean
anoxic Lacking in oxygen
autotroph An organism that can capture energy to manufacture its own
food from raw materials

B
barbel A fleshy projection on the head of some fish that may act as a
sensory structure or function as a lure
biodiversity The number and variety of life forms that exist in a given
area
biological oxygen demand (BOD) The amount of oxygen required by
microorganisms to break down organic matter in water
biomagnification The accumulation of toxins in the upper levels of a
food chain
brine Water that contains a lot of salt
bycatch The incidental, or noncommercial, animals caught by
fishermen

C
carnivore An animal that feeds on the flesh of other animals
cartilaginous skeleton A skeleton system made of cartilage that can be
found in sharks, rays, and other primitive fish
climate The long-term weather conditions in an area
coral bleaching The process in which corals expel their symbiotic algae
crude oil Unrefined petroleum

121
 T
122 People and the Sea

D
DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) A colorless insecticide that is
toxic to insects and humans, and has been banned in the United
States since 1972 because of its ability to persist in the environment
decomposer An organism that breaks down dead and decaying matter
and releases complex molecules in the environment
detritivore Organism that feeds on dead and decaying matter
dinoflagellate A one-celled organism with two flagella for propulsion
and a protective covering of cellulose
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid, a molecule located in the nucleus of a cell
that carries the genetic information responsible for running that cell
dredging Using a scoop or suction hose to remove sediment or bottom-
dwelling organisms from a waterway

E
echolocation A mechanism used by some cetaceans to locate and iden-
tify objects in the ocean
emulsifier An agent that causes two liquids, such as oil and water, to
mix
endangered Designation of an organism that is in danger of extinction
environment The physical and biological surroundings of an organism
enzyme Protein that regulates the speed of chemical reactions in living
things
eutrophication The rapid growth of plant and animal life in waters that
are rich in nutrients
exclusive economic zones (EEZs) Zones of the ocean controlled by
coastal nations
extinct The designation for organisms no longer in existence

F
finning Illegal process of removing the fins from sharks
food chain The path that nutrients and energy follow as they are trans-
ferred through an ecosystem
food web Several interrelated food chains in an ecosystem

G
gastroenteritis Inflammation of the membranes of the stomach caused
by pathogens or chemicals
gastropod A mollusk in the class Gastropodia, which includes snails,
whelks, and abalones.
 Glossary 123

gigaton One billion tons

global warming An increase in the temperature of the Earth’s surface
due to trapping of heat by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
glucose A six-carbon sugar manufactured during photosynthesis
greenway An area of undeveloped land near a waterway that is set aside
to help protect the quality of water in that waterway
growth hormone A chemical that stimulates growth and development

H
habitat The place in the environment where an organism lives
harmful algal bloom (HAB) Rapid proliferation of toxin-producing
microorganisms
hepatitis Inflammation of the liver caused by toxic materials or
pathogens
herbivore An animal that feeds on plants
heterotroph An organism that cannot make its own food and must con-
sume plant or animal matter to meet its body’s energy needs
hydrate A compound that contains several water molecules as a part of
its structure
hypothermia Low body temperature
hypoxic A condition in which oxygen levels are low

I
indicator species A species whose presence or absence indicates the
condition of the environment
invertebrate An animal that lacks a backbone, such as a sponge, cnidar-
ian, worm

L
limestone A sedimentary rock made of calcium carbonate
longline A heavy fishing line that stretches for several miles with
numerous baited hooks
longshore currents Currents of water flowing parallel to long, straight
beaches that carry sand and sediment from one location to another

M
macroalgae Large plants, such as seaweeds, in the marine environment
mariculture The cultivation of marine organisms for commercial
purposes
 T
124 People and the Sea

microfiltration The process of filtering a solution through material that

traps microscopic organisms and debris
mutation A change in DNA, the genetic material in a cell

N
nitrogen fixation The process in which some microorganisms convert
atmospheric nitrogen into a form of nitrogen that producers can use
nonpoint source pollution Pollution that washes off of a variety of
sources and enters waterways

O
omnivore An animal that eats both plants and animals
ozone A compound made of three oxygen atoms; in the upper atmos-
phere, ozone filters ultraviolet radiation

P
pathogen An organism that causes disease, such as a bacterium, virus,
or fungus
PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) One of several compounds produced
from the chlorination of biphenyl that acts as an environmental
pollutant
photosynthesis The process in which some organisms use the energy of
the Sun to manufacture carbon compounds
phytoplankton Tiny photosynthetic organisms that float in the upper
layers of the water column
point source pollution Pollution from a single, identifiable source such
as a pipe
pollution Waste materials released into the air, water, or soil
productivity The rate at which energy is used to convert carbon dioxide
and other raw materials into glucose

R
refined oil A product of crude oil that has been isolated by distillation
respiration A cellular process in which food is metabolized into energy
for carrying out life function
rhizome The stem of a flowering plant that grows horizontally, often
just under the substrate
runoff The portion of precipitation that either flows off a surface or from
a subsurface
 Glossary 125

S
salinity The amount of dissolved minerals in ocean water
sargassum weed A brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum that lives in
tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean
schooling behavior The tendency of some types of fish to swim togeth-
er for protection from predators or in search of food
sewage Liquid and solid waste from homes, businesses, and cities
sludge Semisolid material the settles from sewage
symbiotic relationship An association between two different kinds of
organisms that usually benefits both

T
thermophiles Organisms that require high temperatures for normal
development
threatened A designation to indicate an organism whose existence is
likely to become endangered
transgenic Relating to the change of an organism’s DNA by the transfer
of genes from another organism
turbidity The cloudiness of a solution due to suspended particles

U
ultraviolet light Electromagnetic energy whose wavelength is shorter
than the wavelength of visible light
upwelling The process in which cold, nutrient-laden deepwater is
moved to the surface by wind and currents

V
vulnerable A designation to indicate an organism whose existence is
likely to become threatened

W
watershed The region of land draining into a body of water

Z
zooplankton Tiny, animal-like organisms that float in the upper layers
of the water column
Further Reading and Web Sites
Books
Banister, Keith, and Andrew Campbell. The Encyclopedia of Aquatic Life. New
York: Facts On File, 1985. Well written and beautifully illustrated book on all
aspects of the ocean and its organisms.
Davis, Richard A. Oceanography, An Introduction to the Marine Environment.
Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1991. A text that helps students
become familiar with, and appreciate, the world’s oceans.
Dean, Cornelia. Against the Tide. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. An
analysis of the impact of humans and nature on the ever-changing beaches.
Garrison, Tom. Oceanography. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1996.
An interdisciplinary examination of the ocean for beginning marine science
students.
Karleskint, George, Jr. Introduction to Marine Biology. Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/
Cole-Thompson Learning, 1998. An enjoyable text on marine organisms and
their relationships with one another and with their physical environments.
McCutcheon, Scott, and Bobbi McCutcheon. The Facts On File Marine Science
Handbook. New York: Facts On File, 2003. An excellent resource that
includes information on marine physical factors and living things as well as
people who have been important in ocean studies.
Nowak, Ronald M. Walker’s Marine Mammals of the World. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 2003. An overview on the anatomy, taxonomy, and
natural history of the marine mammals.
Pinet, Paul R. Invitation to Oceanography. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett
Publishers, 2000. Includes explanations of the causes and effects of tides and
currents, as well as the origins of ocean habitats.
Prager, Ellen J. The Sea. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. An evolutionary view of
life in the Earth’s oceans.
Reeves, Randall R., Brent S. Steward, Phillip J. Clapham, and James A. Powell.
Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. An
encyclopedic work on sea mammals, accompanied by gorgeous color plates.
Sverdrup, Keith A., Alyn C. Duxbury, and Alison B. Duxbury. An Introduction to
the World’s Oceans. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. A comprehensive text on

126
 Further Reading and Web Sites 127

all aspects of the physical ocean, including the seafloor and the ocean’s physi-
cal properties.
Thorne-Miller, Boyce, and John G Catena. The Living Ocean. Washington, D.C.:
Friends of the Earth, 1991. A study of the loss of diversity in ocean habitats.
Waller, Geoffrey. SeaLife, A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996. A text that describes
the astonishing diversity of organisms in the sea.

Web Sites
Bird, Jonathon. “Adaptations for Survival in the Sea.” Oceanic Research Group,
1996. Available online. URL: http://www.oceanicresearch.org/adapspt.html.
Accessed March 19, 2004. A summary and review of the educational film of
the same name that describes and illustrates some of the adaptations that ani-
mals have for life in salt water.
Blue Ocean. Available online. URL: http://www.blueoceansociety.org. Accessed
January 9, 2005. Provides marine information to the public in hopes of
inspiring more people to help protect marine life.
Buchheim, Jason. “A Quick Course in Ichthyology, Odyssey Expeditions.”
Available online. URL: http://www.marinebiology.org/fish.htm. Accessed
January 4, 2004. A detailed explanation of fish physiology.
Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Available online. URL: http://www.gma.org/
about_GMA/default.asp. Accessed January 2, 2004. A comprehensive and up-
to-date research site on all forms of marine life.
“Habitat Guides from eNature.” Available online. URL: http://www.enature.com/
habitats/show_sublifezone.asp?sublifezoneID=60#Anchor-habitat-49575.
Accessed November 21, 2003. A Web site with young people in mind that
provides comprehensive information on habitats, organisms, and physical
ocean factors.
Huber, Brian T. “Climate Change Records from the Oceans: Fossil Foraminifera,”
Calypso Log, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, June 1993.
Available online. URL: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/marine/foraminifera.
htm. Accessed December 30, 2003. A concise look at the natural history of
foraminifera.
King County’s Marine Waters. Natural Resources and Parks, Water and Land
Resources Divisions. Available online. URL: http://splash.metrokc.gov/wlr/
waterres/marine/index.htm. Accessed December 2, 2003. A terrific Web site
on all aspects of the ocean, emphasizing the organisms that live there.
Mapes, Jennifer. “U.N. Scientists Warn of Catastrophic Climate Changes.”
National Geographic News, February 6, 2001. Available online. URL:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/02/0206_climate1.html.
 T
128 People and the Sea

Accessed January 9, 2005. A first-rate overview of the current data and conse-
quences of global warming.
Marine Conservation Biology Institute. Available online. URL: http://www.mcbi.org.
Accessed January 9, 2005. A resource of news items on issues that relate to
marine conservancy.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Available online.
URL: http://www.noaa.gov. Accessed January 9, 2005. A top-notch resource
for news, research, diagrams, and photographs relating to the oceans, coasts,
weather, climate, and research.
Ocean.com. Available online: http://www.ocean.com/Conservation. Accessed
January 9, 2005. An organization that provides information from around the
world on ocean news, education, conservation, and entertainment.
Pew Ocean Commission. Available online. URL: http://www.pewoceans.org.
Accessed January 9, 2005. This Web site contains America’s Living Ocean, the
commission’s report on the current condition of the oceans and its recom-
mendations for the oceans’ future.
Sierra Club. Available online. URL: http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/
marine.asp. Accessed January 9, 2005. A source of information on all conser-
vation topics, including the oceans, with the goal of teaching people to pro-
tect the wild places on Earth.
“Spinner Dolphin,” Defenders of Wildlife. Available online. URL: http://www.
kidsplanet.org/factsheets/spinnerdolphin.html. Accessed February 20, 2004.
An excellent Web site suitable for both children and young adults that
describes various species of marine animals.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Available online. URL: http://www.fws.gov.
Accessed January 9, 2005. A federal conservation organization that covers a
wide range of topics, including fisheries, endangered animals, the condition
of the oceans, and conservation news.
“Why Care About Reefs?” REN Reef Education Network, Environment Australia,
2001. Available online. URL: http://www.reef.edu.au. Accessed February 2,
2004. A superb Web site dedicated to the organisms on and the health of the
coral reefs.
 Index
Note: Italic page numbers indicate illustrations. ozone hole 69–74
C indicates color insert pages. solutions to 74–76
cod 87
Columbia River salmon populations 86–87

A
abalones 55, 84
combined sewage overflow (CSO) systems 32
condensation 2, 58
consumers (heterotrophs) 73
abyssal zone 102, 103 continental rise 102, 103
albatross 33, 90–91, C-2 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild
algal blooms 8–9, 12, 13 Fauna and Flora (CITES) 82
alien species 81, 97 coral reefs
alternative energy sources 109–113 endangered species 83–84, C-7
Alvin 74, C-6 global warming and 64–66
anchoveta 50 medicines from 104
Antarctic ozone hole 70 nutrient enrichment damage to 11–12
arsenic 36, 38 crude oil 23–25
autotrophs (producers) 73

B D
Dao, My Lien 17
Baltic Sea eutrophication 10, 13, 14 DDT 35–36, 91
bathyal zone 102 decomposers (detritivores) 73
beaches 16, 19 degradable plastic 34
biological oxygen demand (BOD) 4–5 detritivores (decomposers) 73
biomagnification 36, 38 diamonds 106–107
birds See sea birds dimethylsulfide (DMS) 72–74
Black Sea dead zone 13 dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) 72
brittle stars 120 dinoflagellates 8–9, 9
bromine 69, 105 distillation 100
brown pelican 35–36, 91, C-8 diversity 79–80
Bruno, John 11 DNA 38, 103
dolphins 47–48, 93, 95
dredging (construction) 3
C
cadmium 36, 38
dredging (fishing) 45, 47
drift nets 46, 48–49
dugongs 96
Capitella capitata 14, 26
carbon cycle 58–59, 66–68, 67
carbon dioxide 59, 60, 61–62, 66–67, 68
Carson, Rachel 81–82
Chesapeake Bay 13, 19
E
echolocation 95
chlorine 69 ecosystems 80, 97
CITES 82 ecteinascidin 119
Clean Water Act (CWA) 2–3, 17 elkhorn coral 84
climate changes El Niño 62–64, C-5, C-6
global warming 59–68 El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) 63–64, 65

129
130 People and the
T Sea

Elpidia minutissima 64 gill nets 48, C-5

endangered species 78–98 glass sponges 119–120
causes of 80–81 Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) 75–76
fish 84–89, 85 global warming 59–68
laws 81–83 carbon cycle and 66–68, 67
loss of genetic diversity 79–80 and coral reefs 64–66
mammals 92–97 El Niño 63–64, 65
plants 83 greenhouse effect 59–62
reptiles 89–90, C-7 phytoplankton and the sulfur cycle 72–74
sea birds 90–91 glucose 73
Endangered Species Act (1973) 82–83 gold mining 106
Endangered Species Conservation Act (1969) 82
greenhouse effect 59–62
Endangered Species Preservation Act (1966) 82
greenhouse gases 59, 60, 61–62
European green crab 97
Gulf of Mexico
eutrophication See nutrient enrichment (eutrophication)
dead zone 12–13
evaporation 2, 58
mariculture 52–53
exclusive economic zones (EEZs) 41
extinction 78–79 oil-drilling rig blowout 26–28
Exxon Valdez oil spill 28–29 sea grass beds 19
gyres 34

F
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Clean Water Act, CWA) 2–3, 17 H
Fenical, William 119 HABs (harmful algal blooms) 8–9, 13
fiber optic cables 119–120 hadal zone 102
fish Hamann, Mark T. 119
consumption of 41–43 harbor seal 29
endangered 80–81, 84–89, 85 harmful algal blooms (HABs) 8–9, 13
genetically engineered 54 Hawaiian monk seal 33, C-2
oil spills and 22 heavy metals 36, 37, 38
fish farming See mariculture hepatitis 15
fishing 41–52 See also mariculture heterotrophs (consumers) 73
commercial techniques 43–49, 46, C-3–C-5 hydrates 68
finding fish 42, 43
overfishing 49–52, 80–81, 117
profitable species 42–43
U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 117
fishmeal 50
I
insecticides 35–36
Florida oil spill 25–26 International Whaling Commission (IWC) 92–93
food chains 73 intertidal zone 102
heavy metals and 36, 37, 38 invertebrates, endangered 83–84
pesticides and 35–36
phytoplankton and 70, 71, 72
fossil fuels 59, 66, 68
freshwater input reduction 18–19 J
Jessica oil spill 29
freshwater (desalination) plants 100–101

G
Galápagos oil spill 29
K
kelp 52–53
garbage See trash
gastroenteritis 15
genetically engineered fish 54
genetic diversity 79–80 L
leafy sea dragon 84–85
GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) 75–76
geothermal vents 101–102, 107 limestone formation 68
ghost nets 33, 49 longline fishing 44–45
 Index 131

M
magnesium 104
oil and gas deposits 107–109
salt processing 99–100
ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) 110–111
mammals ocean zones 102, 103
endangered 92–97 oil and gas deposits 107–109
fishing and 45, 47–48 oil-drilling rigs 26–28, 27, 108–109
oil spills and 23, 28 oil spills 22–32, C-1
manatees 96, C-8 cleanup 29–30
manganese 106 drilling rigs 26–28
manzamine 119 effects of 22–24, C-1
mariculture 52–56 minor spills and leaks 31–32
Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) 82, 92–93 tanker spills 24–26
maximum sustainable yield (MSY) 49 tarballs 30
medicines from the ocean 101–104, 118–119 Olivera, Baldomero 119
menhaden 53, C-4 OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) 110–111
mercury 36, 37, 38 overfishing 49–52, 80–81, 117
methane 59, 61–62 oxygen depletion 8, 12–13
microlayer 31–32 oysters 53, 53–55
Minamata Bay mercury poisoning (Japan) 36, 37, 38 ozone-depleting chemicals (ODCs) 69
minerals from the ocean 104–107 ozone hole 69–74
Mississippi River 12–13
mussels 53, 53–55
P
paralytic shellfish poisoning 8–9
N
natural gas 107–108
Peru, anchoveta fisheries 50, 63
pesticides 35–36
Pfu polymerase 103
natural resources See ocean resources
phosphate (phosphorite) mining 105–106
neap tides 112, 113
phosphorus 4
Newell’s shearwater 91
photosynthesis 8, 70
New York Bight 6, 6–7, 13
phytoplankton 66–67
New York City, East River tidal power plant 109–110
global warming and 62
nitrogen 4, 7–8, 14–15
ozone depletion and 70, 71, 72
nonnative (nonindigenous) species 81, 97
sulfur cycle and 72–74
North Sea dead zone 14
pillar corals 84, C-7
nuclear wastes 38–39
piping plovers 91
nurdles (mermaids’ tears) 33–34 plants, endangered 83
nutrient enrichment (eutrophication) 10–20, 83 plastic 32–34, 90, C-2, C-8
airborne nitrogen 14–15 pots and traps (fishing) 48
dead zone formation 12–14 Prialt 119
diseases associated with 15–17 Prince William Sound (Alaska) 28–29
effects on marine environment 7–9, 10–14 producers (autotrophs) 73
and endangered species 81 pseudopterosin 119
mariculture and 55–56 purse seines 46, 47–48, C-4
prevalence of 10
runoff 9–12
sewage 1–9, 17–18
R
radioactive wastes 38–39

O
Ocean Policy Trust Fund 118
red drum (redfish) 51
refined oil 23–25
reptiles, endangered 89–90, C-7
ocean research 74–76, 101–104, 109–113, 118–120, C-6 resources See ocean resources
ocean resources reverse osmosis (RO) 101
alternative energy 109–113 rice cultivation 61
freshwater (desalination) 100–101 Rinehart, Ken 118
medicines 101–104, 118–119 Ruhl, Henry 64
minerals 104–107 runoff 9–12
132 People and the
T Sea

S
Saint-Malo tidal power plant (France) 109
submersibles 74, C-6
sulfur cycle 72–74

salinity 18–19
salmon 51, 52, 54, 55, 86–87
salt processing plants 99–100 T
tarballs 30
sand and gravel mining 105
sandeel 62 Thailand mariculture 56
Scotland, global warming and sea bird breeding 62 thermophiles 102–103
sea birds tidal power 109–110
endangered 90–91 tides 112, 113
fishing and 45, 49 tin mining 106
global warming and 62 Torrey Canyon oil spill 24–25
oil spills and 22–23, 25, 27, 28 toxic pollutants 35–39
SEACOOS (Southeast Atlantic Coast Ocean Observing System) 75 transgenic fish 54
sea cucumbers 64 trap nets 48
sea feathers 119 trash 6–7, 32–34, 90, 91, C-2, C-8
sea grass beds 10, 18–19, 83 trawls 45, 46, C-3, C-7
sea levels 62 tsunami 76
seals 29, 33, 95, C-2 tuna 47–48
sea otters 96, 96–97 turtle excluder devices (TEDs) 89, C-7
sea squirts 118–119 turtles 33, 45, 49, 89–90, C-3, C-7
sea turtles 33, 45, 49, 89–90, C-3, C-7
sewage 1–9
effects on marine environment 7–9
laws 2–4 U
ultraviolet (UV) radiation 69
from oceangoing vessels 17–18
oil in 32 United Nations constitution of the oceans (1982) 41
treatment 4–5, C-1 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy 116–118
volume of 5–7
sharks 49, 87–88
shearwaters 91
shrimp 39, 52, 53, 89, C-3
W
walruses 95–96
Silent Spring, The (Carson) 81–82
water cycle 1, 2
silt 18–19
watersheds 3
sludge 5–6
wave energy plants 110
smalltooth sawfish 88–89
whales 92–95, 94
Snake River salmon populations 86–87
wind power 111, 113
Southeast Atlantic Coast Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) 75
World Conservation Union 82
Southern Oscillation 63
species diversity 79
sponges 119–120
spring tides 112, 113
staghorn coral 84
Z
zones in the ocean 102, 103
Steller’s sea cow 96, 98
sturgeons 85, 85–86
sublittoral zone 102